Georgia law:
Georgia Laws on Burglary
In the state of Georgia, there are two degrees of burglary—first-degree burglary and second-degree burglary. Under O.C.G.A. § 16-7-1, a person commits the offense of burglary in the first degree when, without authority and with the intent to commit a felony or theft therein, he or she enters or remains within an occupied, unoccupied, or vacant dwelling house of another or any building, vehicle, railroad car, watercraft, aircraft, or other such structure designed for use as the dwelling of another.
A person commits the offense of burglary in the second degree when, without authority and with the intent to commit a felony or theft therein, he or she enters or remains within an occupied, unoccupied, or vacant building, structure, vehicle, railroad car, watercraft, or aircraft.
So, the Jogger clearly entered a building without authorization. The question is did he have intent to commit a felony or theft therein? Georgia case law says that the mere presence of valuables inside that could be stolen is sufficient to infer that intent and sustain a conviction for burglary REGARDLESS of whether a theft was carried out. For the purposes of burglary there is no misdemeanor/felony value threshold. If there was so much as a two-by-four or a hammer in there for him to take, his mere presence in the building was sufficient to sustain a conviction for burglary. Now, criminal trespass is a lesser included offense and he would be entitled to an instruction on it if he testified that he did not intend to steal, but he had done enough to be convicted of burglary and satisfy the law.
So yeah, the jogger could easily have been convicted of a felony that day based upon his actions. He also happens to be black. Saying that he could have been convicted of a felony has nothing to do with the fact that he was also black. It has to do with the facts as we know them.
