State v. Charitie Shively

¶26 I respectfully dissent.

¶27 The statute under which Shively was charged and convicted states as follows:

A person commits the offense of theft when the person purposely or knowingly obtains or exerts unauthorized control over property of the owner and . . . has the purpose of depriving the owner of the property.

Section 45-6-301(l)(a), MCA (2003) (paragraph break omitted).

¶28 Shively argues that under this language, the State had to prove that she knew her control over the property at issue (the welder) was unauthorized.1 The State argues, however, that it had to prove only *521that Shively…