# Idaho Code § 18-2406: 18-2406 DEFENSES

> Idaho · Statutes · In force

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2406

## Section

- **Citation:** Idaho Code § 18-2406
- **Heading:** 18-2406 DEFENSES
- **Jurisdiction:** Idaho
- **Kind:** Statutes
- **Status:** In force
- **Text as of:** August 14, 2026
- **Source:** Compiled text
- **Location:** Idaho Code / Title 18 / Chapter 24 / Section 18-2406

## Text

18-2406. Defenses. (1) It is no defense to a charge of theft of property that the offender has an interest therein, when the owner also has an interest to which the offender is not entitled.

(2) Where the property involved is that of the offender's spouse, no prosecution for theft may be maintained unless the parties were not living together as man and wife and were living in separate abodes at the time of the alleged theft.

(3) In any prosecution for theft committed by trespassory taking or the offense previously known as embezzlement, it is an affirmative defense that the property was appropriated openly and avowedly, and under a claim of right made in good faith. It is not a defense to a theft committed by such conduct that the accused intended to restore the property taken, but may be considered by the court to mitigate punishment if the property is voluntarily and actually restored (or tendered) prior to the filing of any complaint or indictment relating thereto, and this provision does not excuse the unlawful retention of the property of another to offset or pay demands held against such other person.

(4) In any prosecution for theft by extortion committed by instilling in the victim a fear that he or another person would be charged with a crime, it is an affirmative defense that the defendant reasonably believed the threatened charge to be true and that his sole purpose was to compel or induce the victim to take reasonable action to make good the wrong which was the subject of such threatened charge.

(5) It is no defense to a prosecution for theft under a provision of this chapter that the defendant, by reason of the same conduct, also committed an act specified as a crime in another chapter of title 18, or another title of the Idaho Code.

History:

[18-2406, added 1981, ch. 183, sec. 2, p. 324; am. 2008, ch. 23, sec. 1, p. 36.]

## Nearby sections

- [Idaho Code § 18-2401 18-2401 CONSOLIDATION OF THEFT OFFENSES.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2401.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2402 18-2402 DEFINITIONS.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2402.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2403 18-2403 THEFT.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2403.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2404 18-2404 PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE — THEFT BY LESSEE.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2404.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2405 18-2405 PROOF OF FRAUDULENT INTENT IN PROCURING FOOD, LODGING OR OTHER ACCOMMODATIONS.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2405.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2406 18-2406 DEFENSES.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2406.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2407 18-2407 GRADING OF THEFT.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2407.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2408 18-2408 PUNISHMENT FOR THEFT.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2408.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2409 18-2409 PLEADING AND PROOF.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2409.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2410 18-2410 PROHIBITING DEFACING, ALTERING OR OBLITERATING NUMBERS — SALES PROHIBITED — PENALTY.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2410.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2411 18-2411 UNLAWFUL USE OF THEFT DETECTION SHIELDING DEVICES.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2411.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2415 18-2415 SCANNING — REENCODING.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2415.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2416 18-2416 SHORT TITLE.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2416.md)
- [Idaho Code § 18-2417 18-2417 DEFINITIONS.](https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2417.md)

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/statutes/STATE_ID_T18_C24_S18-2406. Check the current official text before relying on it. Not legal advice.