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F 14.51a
Burglary Of Motor Home Or Camper Is Second Degree
(PC 459 & PC 460)
*Add after 2nd ¶ of CJ 14.51:
A trailer coach is a vehicle designed to be pulled by a separate motor vehicle.
Points and Authorities
In a case involving burglary of a camper or motor home the jury should be instructed upon the definition of trailer coach for purposes of determining the degree of the burglary. A motor home falls outside the Vehicle Code’s definition of a trailer coach, since a trailer is designed to be pulled by a separate motor vehicle. (VC 635.) Nor does a motor home qualify as an inhabited dwelling house. (See People v. Moreland (78) 81 CA3d 11, 14 [146 CR 118] [discharging a firearm at a Winnebago motor home did not violate PC 246 which proscribed shooting at an “inhabited dwelling house or occupied building”].) Moreover, since a motor home is specifically included within the definition of burglary under PC 459, but excluded from PC 460, the inference is that the legislature did not mean for motor homes to come within the ambit of first degree burglary. (See People v. Jones (26) 78 CA 683, 685 [248 P 713] [burglary of caboose included in PC 459 but not PC 460].)
Failure to adequately instruct the jury upon matters relating to proof of any element of the charge and/or the prosecution’s burden of proof thereon violates the defendant’s state (Art. I, § 15 and § 16) and federal (6th and 14th Amendments) constitutional rights to trial by jury and due process. [See generally, FORECITE PG VII(C).]
NOTES
In People v. Nava UNPUBLISHED (H006590), the Sixth District Court of Appeal reduced a first degree burglary conviction based upon entry of a motor home to second degree burglary.
