One less felony in Texas . . . maybe

The Texas Tribune tells us that legislators are considering reversing part of a bill passed in the 82nd legislature that expanded felony classification for certain laws - but then had an unintended consequence:

In 2011, Gov. Rick Perry signed Senate Bill 694, which edited a line in the penal code focused on theft valued at less than $20,000. The law originally classified such theft as a state jail felony if at least 50 percent of the stolen item was made of certain metals, such as copper or aluminum. SB 694, authored by state Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, struck out the 50 percent threshold, which allowed items of any value with even tiny amounts of copper to fall under the statute.

A penny is 2.5 percent copper, according to the U.S. Mint.

Prosecutors haven’t seized on the accidental felony as an excuse to start rounding up penny thieves, but the Texas District and County Attorneys Association has cited the law as an example of the unintended consequences of legislation. Though the potential penny felony has drawn more attention, prosecutors have joked they could also use the law to amp up the penalty for someone who steals a 12-pack of beer from a convenience store, said Shannon Edmonds, the group’s director of governmental relations.

“You could raise it to a felony by charging them with theft of aluminum,” Edmonds said.

Kleinschmidt, a lawyer who has handled some copper wire theft cases in the past, filed a bill this session to narrow the statute so that pennies and aluminum cans are no longer covered.

“It’s just a hole in the statute that needs to be fixed,” Kleinschmidt said.

Kleinschmidt’s bill, HB 544, would require that the enhanced penalties only apply to metal thefts worth $500 or more. He said the current law, with no minimum value for felony-grade metal thefts, is too broad and confusing.