People v. Shaw
Annotate this CaseMacy's security watched as Shaw grabbed a stack of jeans and placed it in a bag. He then walked quickly toward the exit. The detective followed and, with the aid of another employee, stopped Shaw as soon as he left the building. Shaw resisted, fell to the ground, and appeared to have a seizure. An H&M bag recovered from Shaw contained 11 pairs of jeans. Inside the bag was “a secondary bag” lined with foil. The detective testified that the secondary bag was a “used by professionals [to] try to evade the security device at the customer exit/entrance doors” by preventing sensors on the merchandise from setting off an alarm. Shaw was convicted of a felony count of second-degree commercial burglary, a felony count of grand theft of personal property, and a misdemeanor count of possession of burglary tools. The court placed him on probation for two years. The court of appeal reversed the conviction under Penal Code section 466, holding that “burglary tools” include only items used to gain entry to property; the foil bag did not qualify. The court noted that the issue is currently before the state’s highest court and otherwise affirmed.
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