State v. Saylor

Glenn Lee Saylor (defendant) was observed by a K-Mart security guard of placing numerous items around various areas of the store into a shopping cart and going into the hardware department where he would leave with an empty cart. The security officer witnessed Saylor take a bottle of glue to the hardware department, use it, and then return it to a counter. Saylor then made a minor purchase and left the store. The security guard notified her supervisor and then examined a cardboard box in the hardware department which normally would be in the toy department, and contained a pig toy chest worth $13.97. The cover of the box had been recently resealed with glue. The officer did not move or otherwise touch the box. Later that day, Saylor returned to K-Mart, put the cardboard box from the hardware department into his shopping cart, went to the checkout counter, and paid $13.97 for the box and another item. The cashier did not suspect anything too suspicious. Saylor then left the store with the items and was arrested outside by police. After the box was opened, the police found several chainsaws, metal rules, cigarettes, staple guns, and record albums worth over $500. Saylor was arrested for, and convicted of, theft by deception under Kansas statute K.S.A.1979 Supp. 21-3701(b). Saylor appealed. The court of appeals reversed and remanded the matter to the trial court for a new trial on the lesser included offense of attempted theft by deception. The State appealed to the Kansas Supreme Court.