Breakfast Granola for 4/30/10

I'm not a lawyer, but I play one on the internets, so here's your nickel consultation: California Penal Code Chapter 5 -- Sections 484 to 502 -- define larceny. PC485 deals with found property:

One who finds lost property under circumstances which give him
knowledge of or means of inquiry as to the true owner, and who appropriates such property to his own use, or to the use of another person not entitled thereto, without first making reasonable and just efforts to find the owner and to restore the property to him, is guilty of theft.

Brian Hogan's attorney pretty much admits, yeah, he stole the prototype iPhone:

Brian Hogan, a college student who lives in Redwood City, Calif., was at a local bar with friends when another patron handed him the phone, said Jeff Bornstein, an attorney with San Francisco law firm K&L Gates, in an e-mailed statement. "Brian asked others near him if the phone belonged to them," said Bornstein. "When they disclaimed ownership, Brian and his friends left the bar with the phone."

Didn't turn it in to the police, mind you, but "left the bar with the phone." Some PC496(a) for you:

Every person who buys or receives any property that has been stolen or that has been obtained in any manner constituting theft...knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained...or aids in...withholding any property from the owner, knowing the property to be so stolen or obtained, shall be punished by imprisonment in a state prison...

Which means that Gizmodo's Jason Chen is party to the aforementioned theft by receiving "property that has been obtained in any manner constituting theft." I mean, you can't just pop down to the Apple Store and buy prototype iPhones, right? You either sneak your ninja ass into Steve Jobs' secret lair, or you find one. And having found one and NOT tried to return it (constituting theft), go to Gizmodo for some bounty (constituting receiving stolen property).

Properly done, Hogan and Chen would've done the exact same thing EXCEPT make a big announcement:

Hi, Brian Hogan here! I found this iPhone and want to give it back. Someone on Gizmodo must know somebody who can help. Jason Chen gave me a small cash sum for my trouble and good citizenship.

Jason Chen here, and I've taken custody of the phone. We're hoping Apple will swing by and pick up their prototype...which I've mistakenly disassembled and taken pictures of. Give me another hour and a half, and it'll be right as rain. We at Gizmodo apologize for any inconvenience. Meanwhile, check this thing out...

At least make it look good by pretending to want to give it back. By playing the journalism card, Chen puts a quarter in his ass and plays himself: Hogan will either have to be the patsy (Chen denies he knew item was illegally obtained and lets Hogan swing) or savior (Hogan breaks the chain of theft, leading Chen to also go free).

Ultimately, Chen's/Gizmodo's crowing about paying out a $5000 bounty is likely to damn them all.