Larceny
Penal Law §155.25, Petit Larceny states that a person is guilty of petit larceny when he steals property. Penal Law §155.15 (1) provides that "[i]n any prosecution for larceny committed by trespassory taking or embezzlement, it is an affirmative defense that the property was appropriated under a claim of right made in good faith."
People v. Green, 5 N.Y.3d 538, 841 N.E.2d 289, 807 N.Y.S.2d 321. In
People v. Chesler the Court held that §155.15 was unconstitutional insofar as it made a good-faith claim of right an affirmative defense because to do so impermissibly shifted the burden onto the defendant to disprove the element of intent.
People v. Chesler (50 N.Y.2d 203, 209-210, 406 N.E.2d 455, 428 N.Y.S.2d 639 [1980]). That holding recognized that a good-faith claim of right negates larcenous intent--otherwise, a claim of right would not impermissibly shift the burden of proving an essential element of the crime and could remain an affirmative defense. In
People v. Zinke (76 N.Y.2d 8, 10, 555 N.E.2d. 263, 556 N.Y.S.2d 11 [1990])
the Court explained, "[l]arceny is committed when one wrongfully takes, obtains or witholds 'property from an owner thereof' with intent to deprive the owner of it, or appropriate it to oneself or another. 'Owner' is defined in Penal Law §155.00 (5) as 'one who has a right to possession [of the property taken ] superior to that of the taker, obtainer or withholder.'
See Green, Id.
The current larceny statute provides simply that "[a] person steals property and commits larceny when, with intent to deprive another of property or to appropriate the same to himself or to a third person, he wrongfully takes, obtains or withholds such property from an owner thereof" (Penal Law §155.05 [1]).
Green, Id.