An attorney for a man who was indicted after planting tools inside a mailbox in the Bronx to fish out items argued before the state’s highest court in New York on Wednesday that the criminal charges against him should be less severe because he didn’t know exactly how much he’d be stealing.

The Court of Appeals will consider whether an appellate court erred in reinstating a more severe felony charge against the defendant after the trial court had reduced it to a misdemeanor.