Court Opinion

ID: 9676403
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:23:42.820562+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:48.344084
License: Public Domain

DONIELSON, Judge
(dissenting).
I would affirm the decision of the district court. No prejudicial error was committed. Even with the adoption of Uniform Instruction 1403, the result would not necessarily have been different in this case. Instruction 1403 itself does not require a permanent taking. We should be careful not to read too much into the theft statute. We are to construe statutes using what the legislature said, not by what they might or should have said. Iowa R.App.P. 14(f)(13). The legislature did not include a time period for the word deprive in the definition of theft and we should not read one into it. It is not our job to legislate, and we should be reluctant to change the meaning of statutes through the addition or subtraction of words. We must interpret the statute as written.
I also find no prejudicial error occurred because the definition of burglary only requires the jury to find an intent to commit a theft. The majority has placed too much emphasis on the amount of time the defendant actually had control of the softball complex owner’s property. Using Instruction 1403, the relevant question is whether defendant intended to control this property for an extended period of time. There is substantial evidence from which the jury could have found defendant guilty of this crime. Therefore, I would affirm the decision of the trial court.