| A person commits the offense of criminal trespass when he or she enters or remains on property or in a building of another person without that person's consent after he or she has been given notice that entry was forbidden or that he or she must depart. The other person does not need to own the property in order to give notice to depart. The other person must only have a greater right of possession that the person who commits the offense.
No specific intent is required for the offense of criminal trespass. A person only needs to refuse to leave property or a building in order to be guilty of the offense. The fact that the person believed that he or she had a right to remain on the property or in the building is irrelevant. However, if the person has some legal right to the property or the building, he or she cannot be convicted of the offense.
Notice for purposes of the offense of criminal trespass may be conveyed by an oral or a written communication from an owner or from a person who has authority to act on behalf of the owner, by a fence or other enclosure, or by a sign.
An information or an indictment charging a defendant with criminal trespass does not need to allege the type of notice, who gave the notice, or how the notice was conveyed to the defendant. The information or the indictment also does not need to allege the location of the property or the building. The information or the indictment must only allege that the defendant entered or remained on the property or in the building of another person without that person's consent after notice was given to the defendant.
The offense of criminal trespass with regard to a habitation requires the entry of a defendant's entire body into the habitation. The offense is complete at the time the defendant enters the habitation. Any crimes that are committed after the defendant's entry into the habitation are separate offenses.
The offense of criminal trespass only applies to real property. It does not apply to motor vehicles.
Firefighters or emergency medical personnel who enter property or a building during the discharge of their official duties are not subject to prosecution for the offense of criminal trespass.
One of the defenses to the offense of criminal trespass is a defendant's right to free speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Although the defendant may claim that he or she had a right to enter property or a building in the exercise of his or her right to free speech, the defendant must prove that the property was a public forum, such as a public street or a sidewalk. In a public forum, speech can only be suppressed if there is a compelling governmental interest. However, criminal trespass statutes are considered to be constitutional as long as they are applied in a non-discriminatory manner and as long as they are not used for the primary purpose of suppressing speech.
The offense of criminal trespass is normally punished as a misdemeanor. The offense of criminal trespass is a lesser-included offense of burglary. It is not a lesser-included offense of burglary of a motor vehicle. Copyright 2010 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. |