People v. DC

N/A

OUTCOME: Deferred Prosecution

My client went into a hotel room with a woman who had a key. She had clothes and personal items laying around the room. My client couldn't have known that this person was not allowed to be in there. T ... he police were called, they barged in the door and stuck their guns in my client's face and the other person's face. My client was charged with trespassing, but maintained his innocence, as he could not have known that he was not allowed to be in the room as the woman appeared to have the authority to be in the room and to give him the permission to be in the room. I litigated the case through research and pleadings. The difficulty was that the trespassing statute does not contain a "mens rea" or an element the prosecution has to prove regarding the accused's "guilty knowledge." I argued that the court should IMPLY a mens rea element to the trespassing statute because it is a violation of DUE PROCESS for someone to be criminally liable for trespassing when they had no idea they were trespassing.