Burglary 1st Degree in South Carolina
Burglary 1st Degree in South Carolina is the entry into a dwelling without consent with the intent to commit a crime therein. Burglary 1st degree is a felony and is classified as a most serious, violent offense.
Hi, my name is Dale Savage and I’m a criminal defense attorney here in Charleston, SC. Today we’re talking about burglary charges and in particular 1st degree burglary.
What’s the Law?
To establish burglary 1st degree in SC the prosecutor must show you:
Subsection (A)
- Entered a dwelling;
- Without consent; and
- With intent to commit a crime therein; and had one of the following aggravating factors
- When entering or inside or in immediate flight you or a codefendant;
- Armed w/a deadly weapon or explosive; or
- Caused physical injury to any person not a participant in the crime; or
- Uses/threatens to use dangerous instrument; or
- Displays what appears to be a knife or firearm; or
- When entering or inside or in immediate flight you or a codefendant;
- The burglary is committed by a person w/2 or more convictions for burglary or housebreaking; or
- The entering or remaining occurs at nighttime.
- 15 yrs. – life (violent, most serious – felony)
Dwelling
Burglary 1st degree cases are applied to dwellings. A dwelling is basically any structure in which someone sleeps on a regular basis. The severity of the punishment is set by our legislatures b/c and is reflected in the fact that a person should be secure in their home.
Most serious means that the two-strike law comes into play. This means that if a person is convicted of two most serious offenses they can be eligible for life without parole if the state makes that motion prior to trial.
Defenses
Good lawyers know that it’s vital to defend these cases on a number of different fronts depending on the facts.
Defenses can be as simple as challenging whether it was actually nighttime at the time of the crime or more complicated like challenging the identification of a person. Identification can sometimes be based on cell phone GPS tracking or DNA evidence at the crime scene.
Each of these legal issues needs to be investigated by your defense attorney and challenged in order to assert your best defenses to the allegations.
Charleston, SC Criminal Defense Attorney
If have been charged with burglary 1st degree and would like to discuss your options, please call me at (843) 530-7813. I hope this video was helpful and thanks for watching.