In a strange story out of Staten Island, NY, jurors were asked to decide if a man breaking into another’s home, going through the homeowner’s things, and then–oddly–taking a shower was enough evidence for a conviction of burglary.

The story from silive.com does a nice job highlighting the defense attorney’s attempts to paint the whole thing with an innocent brush.

An intrusion detection alarm did its job and alerted authorities to the break-in. When they arrived they found a broken window with blood on it, a bag od tools one might use to break into someplace… some of the tools with blood on them and the homeowner’s lockbox opened and rifled through. 

They also found the perpetrator in the homeowner’s shower–presumably trying to wash the blood away.

The defense attorney cautioned jurors not to be swayed by circumstantial evidence.

“Examine the intent in this case. That is a crucial, crucial part,” said the defense attorney in the story. “[The perpetrator] did not have an intent to commit a crime inside the house.”

We are not sure what right the person had in a strangers house, going through his things, let alone taking a shower.

We are glad to see the homeowner had an alarm and that it functioned as it was designed to to help protect against loss.

Drop Norris a line today to find out how we can help keep your people and property safe!

What is Norris all about?

Norris, Inc.—a South Portland, Maine-based life-safety and security systems integrator with satellite offices in Bangor, Maine; Lee, New Hampshire; and Burlington, Vermont—was founded nearly 40 years ago by two brothers, Brad and Harty Norris. The brothers remain on the board of directors today and continue to help steer the enterprise toward its goal of advancing life-safety, security, and communications while striving to grow in its status as Northern New England’s leading systems integrator. Norris provides fully integrated life-safety and security solutions, comprising disparate systems including fire alarm, intrusion detection, access control, video surveillance, communications, and emergency notification and total systems integration via the Vigilance Systems Integration Engine and ENS. Want to become part of the Norris family? We’re hiring!