Matt Horeczko - All About California’s Robbery Laws

California law defines robbery as the taking of someone's property by force or intimidation, according to Matt Horeczko. Robbery carries a felony conviction carrying a penalty of up to nine years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Although this sounds simple, there are a number of nuances to California robbery law - as well as "sentence enhancements" - you should be aware of.

Robbery as defined by California law

Let's start with the legal definition of robbery. A prosecutor must prove six things to obtain a conviction for robbery:

• Someone else's property was taken by you;
• At the time of the robbery, the victim was in possession of the property;
• In their immediate presence, you took the property;
• The victim did not consent to your actions;
• Fear of force was used to prevent the other person from resisting;
• The property was either permanently taken or long enough to deprive the owner of most of its value when you took it.

It's a lot. Let's explain.

Taking somebody else's belongings" is portrayed as abiding in control of another's belongings and driving it, consistent if it is merely a short span. For example, this may involve taking someone's wallet, running 50 feet down the street, getting cold feet, and abandoning the wallet.

If the law states that a victim has possession of a property, it means that the victim has control over it or the right to control it.

As the word indicates, "immediate presence" means that the victim and their property are in the same location as you and that the victim would have been able to maintain control of the property if the robbery hadn't taken place.

If the other person consents to take their property, then it's not robbery, according to Matt Horeczko. However, if it's done against their will, then that's robbery. For instance, you pull a gun on someone and demand their wallet. They run off, leaving their wallet behind. That's still robbery.