Court Opinion

ID: 7824122
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-07 18:03:01.403636+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:30:48.901371
License: Public Domain

Tom Glaze, Justice, concurring. I concur. As noted in the majority opinion, Ark. Code Ann. § 5-39-201(a) (1987) provides that a person commits burglary if he enters or remains unlawfully in an occupiable structure of another person with the purpose of committing therein any offense punishable by imprisonment. Ark. Code Ann. § 5-39-101(l)(A) (1987) defines “occupiable structure” as a building or structure where any person lives or carries on a business or other calling. In Barksdale v. State, 262 Ark. 271, 555 S.W.2d 948 (1977), this court explained the term “occupiable structure” by saying that whether anyone is physically occupying the structure is irrelevant; the determinative factor is the nature of the premises, that is, not whether it was occupied at the time of the crime, but rather, whether it was occupiable. In the present case, the issue is whether Mr. Davis used the trailer — which appellant unlawfully entered to commit theft — to carry on his business. Clearly, the answer is yes. The appellant and others broke into the trailer which was owned by Davis and used by him as a storage facility for his business. Davis testified that he operated a business as a maintenance person for the Federal Home Administration and that he stored windows, doorknobs and other things in the trailer as a part of his business. The fact that Davis was not inside the trailer at the time the appellant and others actually entered it is of no relevance. For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the trial court.