While pretty far afield, I am not certain that it is always a crime. Certain defenses could apply, necessity and duress come to mind. IIRC, there may be an intent element as well.
I recall a law school exam where the alleged trespasser was drunk out of his mind, didn't know what he was doing, walked into the wrong house, had a drink of water and then passed out on the kitchen floor. I would have to have a little sympathy for someone whose bladder was about to burst and entered an unlocked and unoccupied home simply for the purpose of using the toilet, and promptly left. -Zeb On May 5, 2009, at 10:14 PM, Rob Alexander wrote: > Are you saying that, if you leave your front door unlocked, and a > stranger walks into your home, that it is not trespass unless you > posted signs? Of course, not. You are trespassing if you enter a > dwelling without permission of the owner. > > In this case, breaking and entering is what they did, but breaking > and entering is not the crime itself, it is an element of a crime. > And they did do that. It does not require you to ‘break’ anything > in the sense of doing damage; even opening an unlocked door, or > pushing a door further open, counts as the ‘breaking’ part. > > If you ‘break and enter’ with the intent to commit a crime, then > you have committed burglary, a felony. If you ‘break and enter’ > without the intent to commit a crime, then you have committed > trespass, a misdemeanor. It seems pretty clear that these guys did > the latter and that’s what they’ve been charged with. > > As has been said before, most of us have probably done that with an > empty house sometime in our lives. I was considerably younger than > Wall the last time I did, but while it was a boneheaded thing to > do, it’s not like it makes him a hardened criminal. It would > probably be a good time for him to start growing up, though. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
