BURGLARY and BREAKING AND ENTERING

Please note that Attorney Varszegi is currently not accepting any new cases.

Under the Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 266, burglary is generally defined as breaking and entering a home, at night, with the intent to commit a felony once inside. An even more serious, aggravated burglary charge is armed burglary. A conviction of armed burglary can result in a sentence of 10 years to life; if committed with a firearm, 15 years to life; and for a subsequent offense, 20 years to life.

There are a number of defenses to burglary, depending on the specific type of alleged offense and the facts of the case. For burglary, the prosecution must prove that the defendant entered the home of another; hence if it can be shown that the defendant had a right of occupancy, the case may be dismissed. The breaking and entering requirement requires proof by the prosecution that the defendant actually broke through or moved a barrier to entry, thus gaining entry into the home; entering an open door or window is not enough. The intent element requires proof that the defendant intended to commit a felony within the home; thus, for example, if the defense can show that the defendant did not intend to commit any crime defined as a felony, a dismissal may result. It may even be possible to prove that any entry did not occur at night for the purposes of the statute. For each required element of the prosecution's case, disproving that element will result in a dismissal.

There are many statutes which define the related crime of breaking and entering, including: breaking and entering at night, breaking and entering during the day or with weapons, breaking and entering a dwelling house during the day, entering a dwelling house by false pretenses, and even breaking and entering ships and railroad cars. Just as with burglary, a skilled breaking and entering lawyer may be able to exploit weaknesses in the prosecution's case, depending on the specific facts of each case and the elements of the particular crime charged.

Evidence is the keystone of a successful defense. When you are charged with a crime such as burglary or breaking and entering, it is crucial to discover and preserve key evidence before it is lost forever. For example, eyewitness accounts, police officers' logs or "turret tapes", or security camera videotapes of the scene of the alleged crime, may all conflict with official police reports in ways that raise reasonable doubt or prove that you could not possibly have committed the crime. Attorney Varszegi acts promptly to discover and preserve key evidence, to give a better chance at winning a theft case or getting it dismissed outright. Where necessary, Attorney Varszegi will hire investigators on your behalf, and demand that the police be ordered to preserve all evidence they've gathered, not just police reports.

Please note that Attorney Varszegi is currently not accepting any new cases.