You can burglarize a coal yard or a lumber yard, but not a construction site.

George Sydnor v. United States (decided January 14, 2016)

Players: Associate Judges Fisher and Easterly, Senior Judge Pryor. Opinion by Judge Fisher. PDS for Mr. Sydnor. Trial Judge: John McCabe.

Facts: Mr. Sydnor entered a fenced-in construction site owned by Nicholson Construction Company and took six steel pipes. He was arrested shortly thereafter, and was charged with and convicted of burglary.

Issue 1: Did Mr. Sydnor's actions constitute burglary, where a person who breaks and enters a "yard where any lumber, coal, or other goods or chattels are deposited and kept for the purpose of trade" with the intent to commit an offense is guilty of burglary? More specifically, was the construction site a place where goods or chattels were kept "for the purpose of trade?"

Holding 1: The construction site was not a place where goods or chattels were kept "for the purpose of trade," and so Mr. Sydnor could not be guilty of burglary for his actions there. The Court, in its de novo analysis of the meaning of that clause of the burglary statute, held that "for the purpose of trade" means goods that will eventually be bought or sold. It rejected the interpretation that the government urged: that any goods used in business -- i.e., a trade -- were covered. Applying the principle of "ejusdem generis," the Court held that by naming lumber and coal, Congress indicated that the "goods or chattels" in such a yard had to be commercial objects, like lumber or coal, that would be bought and sold. In this case, none of the items in the construction site were intended for commercial sale; they were stored there to be used in the construction project. Mr. Sydnor's conviction for burglary therefore must be vacated.

Issue 2: Was Mr. Sydnor nevertheless guilty of unlawful entry?

Holding 2: The court seemed to doubt that unlawful entry was a lesser-included offense under the Blockburger test, but because Mr. Sydnor had requested an unlawful entry instruction at trial the Court found that Mr. Sydnor was precluded from raising that argument on appeal. The Court then analyzed the sufficiency of the evidence that Mr. Sydnor committed unlawful entry and found it sufficient. It remanded the case for the court to enter a judgment of guilty on unlawful entry. SN

Read full opinion here.