A community has enacted a law that requires residents to separate their garbage into recyclables and non-recyclables. The recyclable items are placed in plastic containers marked “Property of the City of Ecology.” The city collects the contents of the containers and sells it to a recycling facility, boosting the city budget by several hundred thousand dollars per year. Joe, a homeless man, makes the rounds on garbage day and selects metal cans from the recycling bins, which he crushes and sells to a recycling facility. He is arrested and charged with theft of city property. You have been asked to analyze the case on behalf of the Public Defender representing Joe.
What is Joe’s best defense to the theft charges?
Student answers should demonstrate a clear understanding of concepts of property. The key issue in this case is whether the cans are abandoned property that belong to no one or whether the cans in fact belong to the city. Students should show that they understand that to commit theft, a defendant must first have taken the property of another and second, must have the intent to do so.
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