Court Opinion

ID: 9791138
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:06:34.278645+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:34.415297
License: Public Domain

HOLOHAN, Vice Chief Justice
(dissenting):
The court today holds that a man can be guilty of burglary of his own home. This novel principle comes about according to the majority opinion, because of the wording of the burglary statute. If that is what the law means, one cannot help but agree *339with the often quoted remarks of Mr. Bumble, the Charles Dickens character from Oliver Twist (Chapter 51).
The majority ignores the long-standing principle that statutes should be construed to avoid an absurd conclusion or result, and the majority must admit that their construction of the burglary statute results in an absurd conclusion and result. No attempt is made by the majority to give the statute a sensible construction as an appellate court should. See Arnold Const Co., Inc. v. Arizona Board of Regents, 109 Ariz. 495, 521 P.2d 1229 (1973); Mendelsohn v. Superior Court, 76 Ariz. 163, 261 P.2d 983 (1953).
Today’s decision is in sharp contrast with our decision in State v. Billhymer, 114 Ariz. 390, 561 P.2d 311 (1977), in which we construed a section of the old criminal code A.R.S. § 13-135 dealing with lunacy. Although the old code stated that lunatics were incapable of committing crime, we held that there was no distinct defense of lunacy different from the usual defense of insanity. In Billhymer, supra, we avoided a literal construction of the statute. For reasons unknown to me, the majority feels compelled to follow a literal interpretation which results in applying the burglary statute to achieve an obviously absurd result.