FACTS: Our client, Sam Kant, was arrested for shoplifting at Bilmart, a national department store.
At his wife's request, Mr. Kant went to Bilmart and purchased a case of six 4 oz. cans of Hoover's Baked Beans with Bacon. Upon returning home, his wife chastised him for once again failing to purchase what she had requested.
Apparently, Mrs. Kant can't stand the taste of Hoover's Beans, but is very fond of the Handell's brand, and was planning to serve them to her book club when she hosted them for lunch the following afternoon. Mrs. Kant ordered her husband to return to Bilmart to exchange the Hoover's beans for Handell's Beans.
Upon arrival at the store early the next morning, Mr. Kant found that the line for customer service was extremely long due to Bilmart's annual sponsorship of a major community food drive.
In an effort to save time, and thinking the line might be shorter upon his return, Mr. Kant placed the case of Hoover's beans into a shopping cart, made his way through the store to the bean shelf, and then added the Handell's beans to the cart. However, upon his return, the line had not diminished and it was obvious that Sam would be waiting a considerable amount of time to formalize the exchange.
Fearing the wrath of his wife should he not return in time for lunch, Sam placed the case of Hoover's beans inside a cart filled with what appeared to be merchandise returns in need of restocking.
With the desired Handell's beans in the shopping cart, Mr. Kant then proceeded to the store's exit. As he neared the doors, Mr. Kant was approached and detained by store security, who witnessed Mr. Kant's actions, and police were called to the store.
Apparently, the cart into which Mr. Kant had placed the Hoover's Beans did not contain returned items to be shelved, but rather, donations to the Bilmart Community Food Drive. Officers Kopp and Slickman questioned Mr. Kant and then cited him for Shoplifting.
INTEROFFICE MEMO TWO
FROM: Supervising Attorney
ASSIGNMENT: Review the facts of the Sam Kant case. For this assignment, Mr. Kant stands charged with petit larceny rather than shoplifting. Please thoroughly apply the law provided below, based on your lessons and reading material regarding legal analysis and writing. In preparing your memorandum, please consult the sample Legal Memorandums from PCD and Statsky.
Discuss whether or not you think Mr. Kant could be convicted of petit larceny pursuant to the law provided. Please note, this is a closed memo and no outside research should be conducted. Apply only the law as provided below.
For the purposes of this assignment, Sam Kant stands charged with Petit Larceny under Criminal Statute §143.03(a) which provides the following:
A person is guilty of petit larceny when he deprives the owner of property.
Petit larceny is a class "A" misdemeanor
Criminal Statute § 143.00 Larceny; Defined
(1) A person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property, or to appropriate the same to himself, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner thereof.
In State v. Gross (2001) the defendant moved for dismissal of petit larceny charges because he had not yet left the store with the merchandise in his possession.
Defendant, Gross, removed 2 rib eye steaks from the plastic wrapping in which they were encased, placing them below his shirt and under each armpit, and was apprehended after having passed the last point of purchase, but prior to reaching the exit doors.
The court held that: (1) a defendant demonstrates the requisite intent to deprive an owner when he acts in a manner that is contrary to those which would be undertaken by an ordinary person, under ordinary circumstances for the situation involved, and (2) actions that are inconsistent with and are ultimately adverse to the owner's interest may be enough to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, and (3) the nature of these acts may be enough to establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt despite the defendant not having left the premises.
Research and Writing Assignment : Appellate Brief
Review the facts, statutes and case law from past writing assignments regarding the Sam Kant fact pattern. For the purposes of this assignment, Mr. Kant stands convicted of either petit larceny or shoplifting, as dictated by your state statutes, and your office has been hired to handle the appeal.
Based on your lessons and reading material regarding legal analysis and writing, legal research, legal citation and appellate procedure, prepare the appellate brief based on relevant statutory and case law from your state of residence. Proper format is outlined in Basics of Legal Document Preparation and detailed in your state court rules, formbooks, etc.
Bear in mind that you do not have access to the trial court record for this assignment,which would not be the case in an actual law office setting. Therefore, you may embellish the facts as necessary to fully develop your arguments. Use care, however, not to allow those embellishments to change the issues involved.
Again, based on your state's statutory provisions, thoroughly research those issues and locate at least one binding opinion upon which to base your arguments. You may also apply any relevant secondary authority that might be used in support of your arguments.
In completing this assignment, please focus on demonstrating your research, analysis, citation and writing skills over format of the brief.