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Redfern v. State

A television broadcast tower was not a building within the meaning of the burglary statute because it did not provide an enclosure of some type for people, animals or goods.

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William Earl Redfern was found guilty by a jury of burglary based on the charge that he entered a building without authority with the intent to commit a felony therein. On appeal he claims the evidence was insufficient to support the guilty verdict. Because we find the State failed to prove that the structure he entered was a building within the meaning of the burglary statute, we agree and reverse the judgment of conviction.

The indictment charged that on March 13, 1998, Redfern committed the offense of burglary by “entering a building, to-wit: W.C.T.V. Tower” with the intent to commit therein the felony of criminal damage to property in the second degree. The State presented evidence that on the night of March 13, 1998, at about 10:30 p.m. an engineer employed by W.C.T.V., who lived near the W.C.T.V. television broadcast tower, noticed that there was a problem with the lights atop the 2000 foot high tower. The engineer drove to the tower located inside a fenced-in tower compound area, which itself was located inside a fenced-in 180 acre site surrounding the tower. The tower compound area was comprised of a building which serviced the tower and the tower structure itself which was located adjacent to the service building.

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