Criminal Trespass with Deadly Weapon

Jacob Staff · Post by **Jacob Staff** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:23 pm

Reading another thread about scaring boaters brought up a question.

According to the Texas Parks and Wildlife website:

Criminal trespass is normally a Class B misdemeanor with a fine up to $2,000 and a jail term up to 180 days.... However, under certain conditions including if one has a deadly weapon on or about oneâ€™s person the offense is a Class A misdemeanor with a fine up to $4,000 and a jail term up to one year.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publication ... pass.phtml

1. Are you breaking the law if you are on someone's property but leave when notified? Such as if you are fishing and get out of the boat and go onto bank and it is private property.

2. If you are trespassing, does the owner have to press charges in order for you to be convicted?

3. If you have a CHL and a pistol on your person, is it still a Class A misdemeanor?

seamusTX · Post by **seamusTX** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:35 pm

PC Â§30.05. CRIMINAL TRESPASS. (a) A person commits an offense if he enters or remains on or in property, including an aircraft or other vehicle, of another without effective consent or he enters or remains in a building of another without effective consent and he:
(1) had notice that the entry was forbidden; or
(2) received notice to depart but failed to do so.

The law then goes on to define what constitutes notice. The most relevant points are signs, fences, or oral notification.

So if you go onto private property without passing no-trespassing signs or a fence, and someone tells you to leave, and you do, you haven't committed criminal trespass.

I'm pretty sure that the property owner must press charges to have you arrested. That means they must know that you are on the property, and the police must get there before you leave. The property owner cannot legally force you to stay.

If you are carrying a handgun with a CHL at the time you commit criminal trespass, I think you would be eligible for the enhanced penalty.

CHL holders are exempt from specific sections of the law, such as 46.02. Everything else applies. (I am still not a lawyer.)

- Jim

Jacob Staff · Post by **Jacob Staff** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:44 pm

seamusTX wrote:
PC Â§30.05. CRIMINAL TRESPASS. (a) A person commits an offense if he enters or remains on or in property, including an aircraft or other vehicle, of another without effective consent or he enters or remains in a building of another without effective consent and he:
(1) had notice that the entry was forbidden; or
(2) received notice to depart but failed to do so.
The law then goes on to define what constitutes notice. The most relevant points are signs, fences, or oral notification.

So if you go onto private property without passing no-trespassing signs or a fence, and someone tells you to leave, and you do, you haven't committed criminal trespass.

Under the Texas Penal Code (Â§30.05) it is an offense for any person to enter property that is fenced, posted with a sign(s), or marked (purple paint) without the express permission of the owner. Posts or trees bearing purple paint marking of not less than eight inches in length and not less than one inch in width at not less than three or more than five feet from the ground constitute notice that the property is posted.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publication ... penalties/

I didn't think about the land needing to be posted or fenced. This reminded me about the "Purple Paint Law". I have seen many places in East Texas with the trees that are "posted" with a purple paint stripe.

seamusTX · Post by **seamusTX** » Fri May 18, 2007 1:54 pm

Jacob Staff wrote:Under the Texas Penal Code (Â§30.05) it is an offense for any person to enter property that is fenced, posted with a sign(s), or marked (purple paint)

Right. I left that out because it's not that common except in woods.

There are many other fine points in that law, such as trespass in a women's shelter or on a Superfund site

- Jim

Greybeard · Post by **Greybeard** » Fri May 18, 2007 4:45 pm

Quote: "I left that out because it's not that common except in woods."

We've been using signage and the purple-painted posts along frontage to our gun range for over 10 years. Some of the disgrunteled neighbors way back at the beginning tried to claim it was to attract the limpy-wristers ...

KBCraig · Post by **KBCraig** » Sat May 19, 2007 12:57 am

Jacob, you've stumbled onto why PC 30.06 was fought for so strongly: because a CHL holder faces a much greater penalty than a simple trespasser.

Kevin

Will938 · Post by **Will938** » Sat May 19, 2007 4:22 am

I thought tresspassing was usually a class C misdemenor.

srothstein · Post by **srothstein** » Sun May 20, 2007 1:32 am

Will,

It is fairly rare for trespass to be a class C. Most of the time, it is a class B, with some upgrades.

The only time it is a class C is if it is on agricultural land, and the offender is caught within 100 feet of the boundary to the land. And if that land is a habitation, even then it goes up to class A.