Opinion ID: 1694928
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: whether edwards's conviction for burglary of a dwelling must be reversed.

Text: ¶ 8. Edwards was indicted and found guilty under Miss.Code Ann. § 97-17-23 (2000) for burglary of a dwelling. This crime carries a maximum sentence of twenty-five (25) years. The statute reads as follows: Every person who shall be convicted of breaking and entering the dwelling house or inner door of such dwelling house of another, whether armed with a deadly weapon or not, and whether there shall be at the time some human being in such dwelling house or not, with intent to commit some crime therein, shall be punished by imprisonment in the Penitentiary not less than three (3) years nor more than twenty-five (25) years. Miss.Code Ann. § 97-17-23 (2000). The definition of a dwelling house is defined in Miss.Code Ann. § 97-17-31 (2000) as follows: Every building joined to, immediately connected with, or being part of the dwelling house, shall be deemed the dwelling house. In comparison, burglary of a non-dwelling, other than a house of worship, carries a maximum sentence of seven (7) years. Miss.Code Ann. § 97-17-33(1) (2000) reads as follows: (1) Every person who shall be convicted of breaking and entering, in the day or night, any shop, store, booth, tent, warehouse, or other building or private room or office therein, water vessel, commercial or pleasure craft, ship, steamboat, flatboat, railroad car, automobile, truck or trailer in which any goods, merchandise, equipment or valuable thing shall be kept for use, sale, deposit, or transportation, with intent to steal therein, or to commit any felony, or who shall be convicted of breaking and entering in the day or night time, any building within the curtilage of a dwelling house, not joined to, immediately connected with or forming a part thereof, shall be guilty of burglary, and imprisoned in the penitentiary not more than seven (7) years. ¶ 9. Edwards asserts that he did not commit the crime of burglary of a dwelling. He claims that entry into a utility storage shed connected to the dwelling by a common roof and having no direct ingress to the house does not constitute burglary of a dwelling. Edwards also argues that Miss Code Ann. § 97-17-31, the statute defining dwelling house, is unconstitutionally vague. In specific, he contends that the phrases chosen by the Mississippi Legislature to distinguish an outbuilding from a dwelling creates a statutory scheme that is unconstitutionally vague. Edwards claims that the phrases contained within the statute of joined to, immediately connected with and forming a part thereof do not offer guidance to the question of whether a storage shed is a dwelling. Rather, Edwards claims that these phrases create confusion and only a broad construction of the phrases would allow the storage shed to be considered a dwelling.