Wooley v. State

OPINION

MANNHEIMER, Judge.

In 2002, Edward A. Wooley stole a jigsaw from a hardware store. The saw was valued at $289, so Wooley's crime would normally be third-degree theft (4.e., theft of property valued at less than $500). 1 However, under AS 11.46.130(a)(6), such a theft is elevated to second-degree theft if "within the preceding five years, the [defendant] has been convicted and sentenced [for first-, second-, or third-degree theft] on two or more separate occasions".

The State alleged that Wooley had two prior convictions for second-degree theft- and that, accordingly, Wooley's act of…