News

California judge determines that ATM dynamiting was an act of 'shoplifting'

September 14, 2018

File this one under, "Wha ... ?"

A California court of appeals has ruled that a man who blew up an ATM in Vallejo in 1997, was entitled to a resentencing pursuant to voter-approved guidelines that reduce many felonies to misdemeanors.

According to a report by the Orange County Register, Justice Timothy A. Reardon ruled that Oston Osotunu's act of dynamiting a Wells Fargo ATM should be reclassified as shoplifting, based on a state supreme court decision determining that shoplifting was not a specific act, but rather, a term of art.

According to Reardon, "the only question here is whether an ATM attached to the external wall of a bank should be considered part of the commercial establishment of the bank and/or a commercial establishment in its own right.

Reardon sent the case back to a lower court to determine whether the ATM was "open for business" when Osotonu blew it up.

It remains to be argued whether an ATM can be open for business without an ATM card and PIN.