Torrance Burglary Defense Lawyers

If you have been charged with burglary in the South Bay area of California, please call McGregor & Ernenwein today to speak with one of our accomplished and skilled Torrance burglary defense attorneys. McGregor & Ernenwein is a well respected California criminal defense law firm and has experience representing a variety of criminal defense cases, including first degree burglary, second degree burglary, home burglary, and commercial burglary. Call McGregor & Ernenwein today to discuss your burglary case.

In the State of California, any person who, with the intent to perform larceny, enters an inhabited building, home, floating home, room, storage container, or any motor vehicle whose doors are locked has committed burglary. The State needs to prove that the defendant did, in fact, have intent to steal or commit a crime when entering the location. There does not have to be evidence that any crime was actually committed to arrest and charge an individual with burglary. If you have been arrested for burglary in California, it is very important that you hire a capable burglary defense lawyer who has the knowledge and experience necessary to successfully represent your burglary case.

First Degree Burglary

In the State of California, first degree burglary is a felony offense. If you are convicted of first degree burglary, you will receive a prison sentence of up to six years, as well as a strike on your criminal record. Burglary of any inhabited building is a first degree burglary, and, if convicted, the defendant will be sentenced accordingly.

Second Degree Burglary

If you are convicted of second degree burglary in California, the penalty may include a jail sentence of up to one year. Depending upon the circumstances of your individual theft case, you may be facing felony or misdemeanor charges.

California Penal Code section 464 states that "any person who, with intent to commit crime, enters, either by day or by night, any building, whether inhabited or not, and opens or attempts to open any vault, safe, or other secure place by use of acetylene torch or electric arc, burning bar, thermal lance, oxygen lance, or any other similar device capable of burning through steel, concrete, or any other solid substance, or by use of nitroglycerine, dynamite, gunpowder, or any other explosive, is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for a term of three, five, or seven years."

The consequences of a first degree burglary conviction, or other burglary conviction, can change a person's life in many negative ways. For example, it is very difficult to find a good job with a criminal record, which may in turn make it difficult to find a suitable living situation. Other serious restrictions will be placed on people who have been convicted of burglary that will take away freedoms to which every person should be entitled.

At McGregor & Ernenwein, it is the goal of our South Bay burglary defense attorneys to use our knowledge of criminal law to have our clients' burglary charges dropped or lessened, therefore reducing the penalties and avoiding or reducing a jail sentence. If you are facing burglary charges, please contact a California burglary attorney at McGregor & Ernenwein to find out how we can help you.

If you have been arrested for burglary in California's South Bay, contact a Torrance Burglary Defense Attorney at McGregor & Ernenwein today!