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Burglars Hit Justice Breyer's Home. Again.

By Andrew Chow, Esq. on May 21, 2012 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

For the second time this year, a home owned by Justice Stephen Breyer has been hit by a burglar, The Washington Post reports.

The latest burglary took place May 4 at Breyer's home in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. The burglar seemed to take a shining to silver, as he (or she) stole two silver candlesticks along with a 100-piece silver set from the Justice's home, according to police.

That's $3,000 worth of stolen silver, the Post reports. But at least the Justice didn't come face-to-face with the intruder, as happened in Breyer's last run-in with a burglar in February.

In the Feb. 9 burglary, Justice Stephen Breyer, 73, was at his vacation home on the Caribbean island of Nevis when a man burst in and waved a machete at the Justice.

The machete-wielding man demanded money from Breyer, his wife Joanna, and guests who were gathered at the Breyers' vacation home. The intruder grabbed about $1,000 in cash and ran off.

A 28-year-old Nevisian gardener turned himself in to police for the February incident, but he was later released on bail, the Post reports. If convicted under Nevisian law, the man could possibly face corporal punishment such as lashes from a whip.

Not so for the American burglar, who will likely face charges of theft and burglary if caught.

Under D.C.'s criminal code, a theft of more than $1,000 worth of items is punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and 10 years in prison. If the thief has two or more prior theft convictions, he could face a mandatory minimum of one year in prison.

D.C.'s punishments for burglary differ depending on whether a home was occupied at the time of the crime. Because no one was home when Justice Breyer's house was burglarized, the intruder could face up to 15 years in prison if convicted. (Had someone been home, the maximum punishment would be 30 years.)

In Justice Stephen Breyer's latest burglary, no items belonging to the Supreme Court were taken, a Court spokeswoman told the Post. An investigation is underway.

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