People v. Brown

OPINION OF THE COURT

Ethan Greenberg, J.

The relatively simple facts developed in the course of a brief bench trial in this case raise two surprisingly complex and interesting legal questions.

First, is the defendant in a prosecution for unauthorized use of a vehicle, like the defendant in a traditional larceny prosecution, entitled to assert as a defense that he acted under a good-faith claim of right?

Second, can a defendant properly be charged with the crime of criminal mischief for deliberately destroying property— namely, a car — where defendant genuinely believed in good faith that he was…