People v. McCray

OPINION OF THE COURT

Smith, J.

A person commits burglary in the third degree when he or she “knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a building with intent to commit a crime therein” (Penal Law § 140.20). If the building is a “dwelling,” however, the crime is a more serious one, burglary in the second degree (Penal Law § 140.25 [2]). The question in this case is whether a burglary committed in the nonresidential part of a building used partly for residential purposes should be treated as the burglary of a dwelling.

We last confronted this question long ago, in Quinn v People (71 NY 561…