Tresspassing Ticket in California

[KingOfTheHill]

well i got a ticket for trespassing (parked 100' off the main road watching my buddies ride their 50's on a mini track)

does anyone know how much a trespassing ticket is? this sux, just as i was about to buy my lift now im gonna have to cough up money for this ticket....

anyone recently have a price for it? thanks

JOe

[casm]

does anyone know how much a trespassing ticket is? this sux, just as i was about to buy my lift now im gonna have to cough up money for this ticket....

Who ticketed you - CHP, local PD, sheriffs? The fines for that vary on a per-county/per-municipality basis, IIRC.

Also, *why* did they ticket you? Usually if you're somewhere that someone doesn't want you to be and they call the cops, you just get a 'move on' warning. Tickets usually come if there're other circumstances involved.

[Fullsizexj]

I got one while flyfishing once and it was $285.00

[KingOfTheHill]

i know what you mean but i swear i was just sitting there.... it was a sheriff who ticketed me.... i was a sheriff explorer and an instructor for 2 years. So trust me, everything was Yes Sir and NO Sir....

what really pisses me off is that the first offroad bike cop said i was getting a warning, then his attention came to a new car approaching and then the cop in the Tahoe told me to pull up 20' then proceded to give me a ticket....

i told him "That officer over there said i was just gonna get a warning" he said "i have no clue what he said, my commanding officer told me to ticket everyone here"

thanks JERK!....

anyway's, that sux.... if its 281 there goes my lift... im definatley gonna protest the ticket... because thats BS...

JOe

[BrettM]

was it marked "no tresspassing"?

[KingOfTheHill]

yeah but i didnt even notice it... it was about 20' up on a powerline...

JOe

[BrettM]

i think there are regulations about how a property has to be marked for no tresspassing, like a sign every certain distance, visibility, etc. I'd look into that.

[casm]

what really pisses me off is that the first offroad bike cop said i was getting a warning, then his attention came to a new car approaching and then the cop in the Tahoe told me to pull up 20' then proceded to give me a ticket....

Out of curiosity, where did this happen? I'm guessing probably up around Rowher based on your location. BTW, this wasn't one of those stupid 'no adventure pass in a national forest' tickets, was it?

i told him "That officer over there said i was just gonna get a warning" he said "i have no clue what he said, my commanding officer told me to ticket everyone here"

I'd go to court on it. If you were given a warning and were in the process of leaving, you're complying with their instructions - which they have to give you a reasonable time to complete. It sounds like that didn't happen in this case. Call the station they're based out of now and get the name of the officer who issued the warning. If you do decide to go to court on it, he'll have to show up as well as the ones who actually wrote you.

In any event... That's definitely bogus. Sorry to hear about it.

[KingOfTheHill]

Out of curiosity, where did this happen? I'm guessing probably up around Rowher based on your location. BTW, this wasn't one of those stupid 'no adventure pass in a national forest' tickets, was it?



I'd go to court on it. If you were given a warning and were in the process of leaving, you're complying with their instructions - which they have to give you a reasonable time to complete. It sounds like that didn't happen in this case. Call the station they're based out of now and get the name of the officer who issued the warning. If you do decide to go to court on it, he'll have to show up as well as the ones who actually wrote you.

In any event... That's definitely bogus. Sorry to hear about it.


OOOOO! thats good....

i think i'll do that.... for sure! the most annoying part is that my mom works there and is the ticketing officers direct secetary... and they like eachother... i didnt name drop because i was told i was getting a warning and then he asked for my lincense and a ticket was already written...

who knows maybe he wont show up... but i definatley NEED that money, im gonna contest it... thanks for all the advice

JOe

[Glenn B]

Depends on where you are, but in many cases it is NOT the property owners responsibility to tell you that you are not wanted, rather YOUR responsibilty to know what lands are public and what is private. If you are unsure, you should check and get permission, rather than just go where you want.

For instance, where I live, I do not need to put up all sorts of ugly signs to keep tresepassers out. It is expected that they stay on the public roads... and if they leave public roads, they have (written) permission to venture on to the obviously private lands. State/public lands are on maps.

[Lincoln]

Depends on where you are, but in many cases it is NOT the property owners responsibility to tell you that you are not wanted, rather YOUR responsibilty to know what lands are public and what is private. If you are unsure, you should check and get permission, rather than just go where you want.

For instance, where I live, I do not need to put up all sorts of ugly signs to keep tresepassers out. It is expected that they stay on the public roads... and if they leave public roads, they have (written) permission to venture on to the obviously private lands. State/public lands are on maps.

There is public land there? Well I'll be.....

[Glenn B]

There is public land there? Well I'll be.....
Yup. Some County and some State. I think there is (was?) some Fed land too.... but there was a recent adjustment made that I am not up on, since I got out of the law business thingy.

[Lincoln]

Yup. Some County and some State. I think there is (was?) some Fed land too.... but there was a recent adjustment made that I am not up on, since I got out of the law business thingy.

You know I don't consider the 1'x1' square for the stop sign "pulic land". :D

[Timber]

Not trying to bum you out, but just as an FYI, cops do NOT have to show up for the initial court hearing. That's gotta be one of the most-often perpetuated myths out there. The officer who wrote the ticket will have to show up to the next court date if you plead not guilty at the initial court appearance. Not sure about the one who told you you'd just be warned, but I highly doubt there is anything in any state's administrative code saying officer's aren't allowed to change their minds or overrule one another.

[casm]

The officer who wrote the ticket will have to show up to the next court date if you plead not guilty at the initial court appearance. Not sure about the one who told you you'd just be warned, but I highly doubt there is anything in any state's administrative code saying officer's aren't allowed to change their minds or overrule one another.


You're pretty much spot-on here. The catch is that one officer had already issued a warning, and, while he was in the process of complying with his instructions to leave, a second officer wrote a ticket for the same offence. Had the ticket been for an unrelated offence, the situation would be different.

Because he was in the process of complying, the other officer - having been informed that a warning had been issued - should not have ticketed him. I had a similar problem a few years back with a headlight that got knocked out when a truck kicked up a rock: the cop pulled me over but let me go with a warning provided that I went immediately to the Pep Boys six blocks away and replaced it. En route, another cop stopped me about 100' from the Pep Boys entrance and wrote a ticket for driving without adequate lighting despite my explaining the situation to him. Took it to court and it was dismissed, despite both the warning and issuing officer being present. Per the judge, it wasn't so much that one officer was overruling the other, just that the ticketing officer had prevented me from completing the terms of the warning.

This is a problem in CA - we have discretionary enforcement (LEOs aren't obliged to cite for certain offences) but no written proof of warnings having been issued. So when the second cop pulls someone over and they explain that they had already been warned and were complying, the second cop inevitably thinks, "yeah, I've heard that one before" and cites. Of course, most people don't know they can fight it...