Dax Solo has hired your law firm to represent him. He has been charged with burglary under 720 Illinois
Compiled Statutes 5/19-1.
The State set forth these basic facts: Dax Solo lives in a house at 711 Glenn Street in the town of Naranja,
Illinois. His neighbor, Pansy Polka, has a small camper trailer that contains a bed and kitchen, which was
parked on the street in front of her home. On May 9 of this year, at about 5 p.m., Pansy Polka saw Dax
standing next to the side door of her camper trailer, which was open at the time, craning his head to look in
the door and starting to reach his hand inside. Pansy rushed shouted “Hey!” loudly to get his attention. Dax
spun around quickly and his smartphone hit Pansy in the shoulder. Dax picked up his phone and ran into his
own home.
The State is charging Dax with burglary. The Illinois burglary statute states that, “A person commits burglary
when without authority he or she knowingly enters or without authority remains within a building, house trailer, watercraft, aircraft, motor vehicle, railroad car, or any part thereof, with intent to commit therein a felony or
theft.” The State said that the burglary consisted of Dax entering the camper trailer by placing his hand inside
without permission, and then committing battery by throwing his smartphone at Pansy. Because Pansy is 63
years old, the smartphone hitting her could be considered aggravated battery, which is a felony.
Dax explains to your law firm that these facts are basically correct, but that there is more to the story. A month
before the incident, Dax had placed four large plastic figures of dogs wearing Hawaiian shirts in his front yard.
He admits the dog figures were rather ugly, because of the bright colors and slightly odd faces, but he enjoyed
them. Pansy had come over to his home several times to complain about the figures, telling him they “uglified”
the neighborhood. Then, a few days before the incident, one of the dog figures disappeared. He thought that
Pansy might have had something to do with it. When he passed by the camper trailer on May 9, he thought he
saw something that looked like the head of one of his dog figures near the door, and since the door was open,
he thought he would peek his head inside to check. He thought he might have seen the ear of the dog statute,
and then took out his phone to try to take a photo from the doorway, so that he could prove the figure was in
her trailer. Dax acknowledges his hand might have gone maybe two inches past the doorframe, into the trailer,
but that he was only trying to use the phone to see whether the statue was inside and take a photo. Then
Pansy surprised him. He turned around so fast that the phone flew out of his hand and hit Pansy. He said that
he had tried to tell the police why he had been at the trailer, but they had not listened. Dax is also not sure
what became of the dog statue.
Linda Loma, the lead attorney, asks you to start to prepare research for a motion to dismiss the charges. Linda
says that she wants you to also look at the statute for a motion to dismiss (725 ILCS 5/114-1), and for battery,
because she does not think that, from the facts, the charges state an offense. Linda explains to you that not
only is it questionable whether Dax “entered” the trailer, but even the facts, as set forth by the State, do not
indicate that Dax had an intent to commit a felony or theft—the “battery” that he is accused of—when he put
his hand inside the doorframe.
Linda asks you to research and provide her with an annotated list of the following items:
Relevant statutes, including the motion to dismiss statute
Three relevant judicial opinions for the client’s case
She also asks you to write an outline of the argument for the brief to support a motion to dismiss in this case.
In this outline, you should use headings to make it clear what points you are going to make and indicate which
legal authority you are going to use in each section, along with a brief explanation of your analysis.
Length: 2-3 pages
Your response should demonstrate thoughtful consideration this week’s materials and demonstrate your
ability to communicate the information clearly and in an appropriate tone. Your response should reflect
graduate-level writing and BLUE BOOK standards.
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