The Colorado Crime Of Second Degree Burglary 18-4-203

To understand the Colorado Criminal Code and more specifically the charge or charges in the Complaint and Information or Grand Jury Indictment against you – you need TWO things.

I. You Will Need To Understand The Actual Statutory Crime With Which You Have Been Charged

– The statute, as of 2016, appears first on this page.

II. You Will Also Need To Understand How The Jury Or Judge Reads The Elements – ( a jury instruction “breakout” of the necessary parts or list of things that make up the crime)

– The Jury Instructions for most of the main forms of the crimes with which individuals are charged – appears after a reprint of the statute defining the crime.

The Colorado Statute That Creates The Colorado Crime of Second Degree Burglary 18-4-203

 18-4-203. Second degree burglary

(1)	A person commits second degree burglary, if the person knowingly breaks an entrance into, enters unlawfully in, or remains unlawfully after a lawful or unlawful entry in a building or occupied structure with intent to commit therein a crime against another person or property.

(2)	Second degree burglary is a class 4 felony, but it is a class 3 felony if: (a) It is a burglary of a dwelling; or (b) It is a burglary, the objective of which is the theft of a controlled substance, as defined in section 18-18-102(5), lawfully kept within any building or occupied structure.

 What Follows Is The Colorado Criminal Jury instruction for Second Degree Burglary 18-4-203

SECOND DEGREE BURGLARY 18-4-203

The elements of the crime of second degree burglary are:

1. That the defendant,

2. in the State of Colorado, at or about the date and place charged,

3. knowingly,

4. broke an entrance into, entered unlawfully in, or remained unlawfully after a lawful or unlawful entry in,

5. a building or occupied structure,

6. with intent to commit therein the crime[s] of [insert name(s) of offense(s)] against another person or property.

[7. and that the defendant’s conduct was not legally authorized by the affirmative defense[s] in Instruction[s] ___.]

 

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