People v. H.W. (In Re H.W.)

Opinion of the Court by Cuéllar, J.

*1070 California law punishes not only familiar offenses such as unlawfully breaking or entering into a building, but the possession of certain physical tools - a crowbar, for example, a pair of vise grip pliers, or some "other instrument or tool" - with the intent "feloniously to break or enter" into a building or vehicle. ( Pen. Code, § 466.) Yet the Courts of Appeal have reached conflicting conclusions about the kinds of tools encompassed by the phrase "other instrument or tool" in *53 Penal Code section 466, 1 and the intent required to trigger criminal…