Robbery
Criminal Defense Lawyers Specializing in Robbery and Burglary
Recent Success Cases
Robbery
Result: Acquittal
Court: Criminal Court
Prosecution: Public Prosecutor's Office
Requested sentence: 5 years imprisonment for the crime of robbery with violence.
Burglary
Result: Acquittal
Court: Provincial Court
Prosecution: Public Prosecutor's Office
Requested sentence: 3 years and 6 months for burglary.
Robbery
Robbery Lawyer
Robbery is a crime defined in article 237 of the Penal Code and it is a crime against the property of others.
This crime consists of seizing other people’s property by using force, violence or intimidation against the persons guarding the property or against possible witnesses, either to carry out the crime or to flee from the scene of the crime.
Robbery is a fraudulent offense since the person or persons responsible are aware at all times that they are violating the rights of the other person, specifically, against the possession and ownership of movable property, which is the legal property protected by article 237.
Consummation of robbery
Criminal defense lawyer in spain
The consummation of the robbery crime occurs when the seized property cannot be recovered by its owner. In other words, the consummation of the theft is directly related to the free availability of the property by the accused.
The attempt of this crime occurs when the robbery is not completed, either because the perpetrator has been arrested while carrying out the criminal act or because he has been pursued and subsequently caught.
In both cases there is no free availability of the stolen objects.
Types of theft
Explained by our theft lawyers
The seriousness of the crime of theft depends, in addition to the value of the stolen goods, on how the criminal act was carried out. According to this, two types of theft can be distinguished:
Burglary
Burglary lawyer
The Penal Code considers burglary in things when for the execution of the same there have been some of these circumstances:
Climbing.
Breakage of windows or fracture of door, or other real estate.
Use of false keys to gain access to the house, enclosure or establishment.
Material damage such as furniture or objects.
Forcing of locks or discovery of their keys to gain access to the place, without consent.
Deactivation of alarm systems.
The typical conduct consists of causing material damage in order to gain access to the place where the crime is to be committed.
Burglary is considered less serious than robbery with violence or intimidation since, unlike the latter, in burglary doesn’t involve the use of force or intimidation and there is no damage or threat to other persons.
The guilty is punished with prison sentences of one to three years of imprisonment, although it can be increased up to 5 years if any of the following aggravating factors are present:
When the appropriated goods have artistic, historical, scientific or cultural value.
When minors under fourteen years of age are used to commit the crime.
When the theft is particularly serious because it causes significant economic damage to the person and/or his family.
When the goods are basic necessities or belong to public services.
When the theft takes place in an inhabited house, building or premises open to the public, as well as in any of its dependencies.
If you have been involved in a burglary case and you need legal assistance to defend your freedom, patrimony and honor, consult the best criminal defense lawyer. We have extensive experience in resolving criminal proceedings in criminal Courts in Barcelona and throught all Spain.
Robbery
Robbery lawyers
Robbery occurs when violence or intimidation is used to carry out the robbery. Evidently, the penalties for robbery with violence are higher than burglary, and may entail penalties corresponding to the crime of injury.
The typical conduct consists of threatening or intimidating the person who owns or is responsible for the goods in order to take them. If the person, in spite of this intimidation, refuses to part with his property, it is when the person responsible, normally, resorts to physical force and violence to be able to consummate this crime, although in some cases violence is used as the main method.
Article 242.1 of the Penal Code punishes robbery with violence or intimidation of persons with a prison sentence of two to five years.
In addition, if the robbery takes place in an inhabited house, building or premises open to the public or any of its dependencies, a penalty of three years and six months to five years imprisonment will be imposed.
If the crime involves the use of weapons or other dangerous objects (armed robbery) the penalties will be imposed in the upper half.
A lower penalty could also be imposed if the intimidation or violence exercised by the accused has not been relevant for the consummation of the crime.
If you are facing robbery or burglary charges, don’t wait to get the help you need from the firm you can trust. Contact with Esteban Abogados Penalistas, we will defend and protect you.
Esteban Criminal Lawyers
Expert criminal law firm in Barcelona with exclusive dedication to criminal law and acting throughout the country. Numerous successful cases endorse our trajectory. Call us and let’s talk about the best way to defend you.
Differences between robbery and theft
Explained by our specialized robbery lawyers
Robbery and theft are crimes that are quite often confused nowadays since they are very similar.
Despite this, the crime of robbery is more serious than the crime of theft. Both crimes consist of illegitimately seizing someone else’s property with a clear profit motive. Also common to both crimes is the willful misconduct since, in both crimes, the perpetrator is aware of the illegality of his actions.
The main difference lies in the fact that in the crime of robbery force is used, robbery with force, or violence, robbery with violence, for its consummation. In other words, theft is also a crime against patrimony and socioeconomic order, but, unlike robbery, force or violence is not used against other persons or objects.
What is the difference between the crime of robbery with intimidation and the crime of conditional threats?
We are lawyers specialized in crimes of robbery with force, violence or intimidation.
Jurisprudence distinguishes between the crime of robbery with intimidation and the crime of conditional threats.
A robbery is distinguished from theft by the use of violence or intimidation on persons or force on things.
When someone takes a diamond from a jewelry store without paying for it and has forgotten it on the counter due to carelessness of the clerk, we are dealing with a theft, because the theft has not been carried out by breaking a showcase or by hitting or threatening the employee.
How do we differentiate a robbery in which intimidation occurs with the threat of causing harm from a crime of threats, which also warns the victim of causing harm?
The difference, according to the courts, lies in the distinction between two moments in the commission of the robbery: the first, the delivery by the victim of the object to be stolen, and the second, the moment in which the evil with which it is threatened should occur.
We will be facing a crime of robbery with intimidation when the threat is made by the thief with the aim of achieving the immediate delivery of the object to be stolen.
On the contrary, if the threat is carried out with the purpose of obtaining the delivery of that object in the future, the crime committed will be that of conditional threats for profit.
However, if the threat is made, not for the purpose of obtaining the object sought in the future, but to cause harm at a later time, the action is constitutive of a robbery with intimidation, not a threat.
Let us give an example. If on the street corner we approach a citizen and, with our hand in our pocket pretending to have a gun, we tell him that if he does not give us his wallet we will kill him, we commit a robbery with intimidation, because we threaten to steal his wallet at that moment.
It will also be robbery by intimidation if we tell you to give us your wallet or we will kill you next week, because the threat is also about getting your wallet immediately. And if we threaten to kill you if you do not give us the wallet tomorrow morning, we incur in the crime of threatening lucrative conditions, since the delivery of the wallet will not take place immediately, but in the future.
Having the best criminal lawyers in Barcelona can be decisive to successfully resolve your case. Contact us, as criminal lawyers specialized in robberies, burglaries and thefts we will look for the best legal strategy to watch over your rights and interests.