People v. Smith
California Court of Appeal
100 Cal. Rptr. 3d 24 (2009)

- Written by Carolyn Strutton, JD
Facts
Troy Smith and his accomplices (the robbers) (defendants) robbed a jewelry store under circumstances that suggested the robbery had been undertaken with the store owner’s assistance. The robbers entered the jewelry store when the store’s safe room was being remodeled, through a wall that a safe had been moved away from, when the store’s security camera was not recording. The robbers briefly set off an alarm, but the store owner did nothing when the alarm company notified him that the alarm had been triggered. Once the robbers had entered the store, they hid in the store until store employees arrived the next morning. The robbers then forced the employees to open the safes and stole jewelry worth $4.5 million. The store owner later received $4 million in insurance for the loss. At Smith’s trial, the prosecution claimed that the store owner had been an accomplice in the crime. Smith was convicted and appealed. In his appeal, Smith contended that crime of robbery could not be proven if the owner had in fact given his consent to the taking of the jewelry from the store.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Ruvolo, J.)
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