IC § 35-43-2-1.5. Residential entry.
– A person who knowingly or intentionally breaks and enters the dwelling of another person commits residential entry, a Level 6 felony.
Case Law
– Victim’s testimony that defendant knocked on her door, broke it down, and confronted her, and the testimony of the officer who responded to the victim’s 911 call that the front door to her apartment had been damaged was sufficient to support defendant’s conviction for residential entry, as a Class D felony. Townsend v. State, 33 N.E.3d 367 (Ind. App. 2015).
– In order to establish that a breaking has occurred, the state need only introduce evidence from which the trier of fact could reasonably infer that the slightest force was used to gain unauthorized entry; the opening of an unlocked door is sufficient. McKinney v. State, 653 N.E.2d 115 (Ind. Ct. App. 1995).
– The offense of residential entry allows a felony prosecution for a housebreak without the need for proof of the intent to commit a target crime; if intent to commit a target crime is shown, then the crime becomes burglary. Vincent v. State, 639 N.E.2d 315 (Ind. Ct. App. 1994).
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