FACTS: Our client, Sam Kant, was arrested for shoplifting at Bilmart, a national

department store. At his wife's request, Mr. Kant went to Bilmart on Wednesday,

______, 20___, and purchased a case of six 4 oz. cans of Hoover's Baked Beans with

Bacon. Upon returning home, his wife chastised him for once again failing to purchase

what she had requested. Apparently, Mrs. Kant can't stand the taste of Hoover's Beans,

but is very fond of the Handell's brand, and was planning to serve them to her book club

when she hosted them for lunch the following afternoon. Mrs. Kant ordered her

husband to return to Bilmart to exchange the Hoover's beans for Handell's Beans.

Upon arrival at the store early the next morning, Mr. Kant found that the line for

customer service was extremely long due to Bilmart's annual sponsorship of a major

community food drive. In an effort to save time, and thinking the line might be shorter

upon his return, Mr. Kant placed the case of Hoover's beans into a shopping cart, made

his way through the store to the bean shelf, and then added the Handell's beans to the

cart. However, upon his return, the line had not diminished and it was obvious that Sam

would be waiting a considerable amount of time to formalize the exchange. Fearing the

wrath of his wife should he not return in time for lunch, Sam placed the case of Hoover's

beans inside a cart filled with what appeared to be merchandise returns in need of restocking.

With the desired Handell's beans in the shopping cart, Mr. Kant then

proceeded to the store's exit. As he neared the doors, Mr. Kant was approached and

detained by store security, who witnessed Mr. Kant's actions, and police were called to

the store. Apparently, the cart into which Mr. Kant had placed the Hoover's Beans did

not contain returned items to be shelved, but rather, donations to the Bilmart Community

Food Drive. Officers Kopp and Slickman questioned Mr. Kant and then cited him for

Shoplifting.

Research and Writing Assignment: Appellate Brief

Review the facts, statutes and case law from past writing assignments regarding the

Sam Kant fact pattern. For the purposes of this assignment, Mr. Kant stands convicted

of either petit larceny or shoplifting, as dictated by your state statutes, and your office

has been hired to handle the appeal. Based on your lessons and reading material

regarding legal analysis and writing, legal research, legal citation and appellate

procedure, prepare the appellate brief based on relevant statutory and case law from

your state of residence. Proper format is outlined in Basics of Legal Document

Preparation and detailed in your state court rules, formbooks, etc.

Bear in mind that you do not have access to the trial court record for this assignment,

which would not be the case in an actual law office setting. Therefore, you may

embellish the facts as necessary to fully develop your arguments. Use care, however,

not to allow those embellishments to change the issues involved. Again, based on your

state's statutory provisions, thoroughly research those issues and locate at least one

binding opinion upon which to base your arguments. You may also apply any relevant

secondary authority that might be used in support of your arguments. In completing this

assignment, please focus on demonstrating your research, analysis, citation and writing

skills over format of the brief.