State v. Wentz

On the evening of May 29, 1999, police responded to a residential alarm at Patrick Wheeler’s home. One of the responding officers found the defendant hiding in the backyard. The officer testified that the defendant said he took a pickup truck from his brother’s home without permission that morning. He said he drove the truck to a friend’s house and broke in, taking a handgun and some ammunition. He then drove to Wheeler’s house, where he intended to confront his ex-wife and her new boyfriend, Wheeler. The defendant told the police that he climbed the fence into the backyard and found an unlocked sliding door. When he slid it partway open, an alarm sounded. Instead of going into the house, he hid in the boat that was parked on a trailer in the backyard. Whether the defendant had entered Wheeler’s home was in dispute.

A six-foot solid wood fence surrounds the backyard. The fence has two gates, both of which were padlocked. Both the defendant and the police officer who apprehended him had to climb the fence to enter the backyard. Wheeler kept his boat inside the fence next to his house.

The defendant was convicted of burglary. The Court of Appeals affirmed. The defendant appealed, arguing that the “fenced area” he was in does not constitute a building for the purposes of burglary because it was separate from the house.