Pretty little burglars : part two of the broken laws of PLL 6×06

Here is part two of my legal analysis of episode 6×06 of PLL.

The girls, minus Emily, break into the lab where Lesli works and discover that she does some sort of animal testing work. Spencer immediately wants to go through her receipts amongst her other belongings. Spencer discovers that the girls are chipped and it looks like Lesli did it, since Hanna starts beeping like crazy when they go near a tracking device in the lab where she works. Chips like these are sometimes used in pets to prevent them from getting lost.

Once again, all of this is very scary but none of this makes the girls’ behavior legal. They broke into the lab with an obvious intent to break the law. I can’t believe the girls don’t explore the possibility that somebody else is framing Lesli for this or forcing her to do some of it, but once they have their suspect of the month, they stick to it until the police rule that person out. This is the norm in Rosewood and right now Lesli looks guilty as sin.

These girls love to work together and one day they might have to pay for their bond. Bad pun intended.

18 PA Cons. Stat. § 903. Criminal conspiracy.

This time they have worked together to commit:

18 PA Cons. Stat. § 3502. Burglary.

LEGAL NOTE: There is a chance that the girls would get criminal trespass instead of burglary. Criminal trespass is a lesser charge, but the girls could get charged with other lesser charges committed during the break in / entry without permission that they would not be able to be charged with in a burglary.

Spencer is just as angry as the other girls but reminds them to stop listing “A’s greatest hits” and start looking for something real in terms of proof to give to the police. This makes me laugh because they’d also have to admit to burglary; I wonder what Officer Toby will think of this one.

Unfortunately Hanna doesn’t obey Spencer’s instructions; instead she decides that Lesli shouldn’t get to keep anybody in cages anymore including these dangerous animals! She starts opening the cages to set them free, which is idiotic and illegal. The lights go out and finally I get to write about something MONA does as herself, not under the A persona. It turns out Mona followed them to the lab meaning that she stalked them and broke in too. She reminds them that the college that owns this lab will prosecute and claims she came to stop them from getting in trouble and she turned the lights off so security guards wouldn’t see them. While I’m not sure if I believe her about her intent, she does make a good point!

*LEGAL NOTE: this means Mona is guilty of burglary as well just like the other pretty little liars!

Meanwhile, Hanna would likely face:

18 PA Cons. Stat. § 3304. Criminal mischief. (In relevant part)

LEGAL NOTE Since this wouldn’t be a 2nd or 1st degree felony, it’s unlikely that Hanna would be charged with this if she was charged with burglary according to Pennsylvania law. However there’s a chance she wouldn’t get charged with that and would instead get criminal trespass and in that case she could get charged with both.

This instance of brilliant behavior by the girls concludes part two of the broken laws in episode 6×06! Let me know if any part of episodes 6×07 and 6×08 stick out to you that you’d like me to cover!