Charged with Criminal Trespassing at a School

So by "I'm sure he meant for me to stop and not come back " you meant "I'm sure he didn't care if I stayed and he encouraged me to move in for close-up shots while he watched me film"? Come on.

thanks llworking. That was in the past okay. I would never keep recording after a confrontation with a coach if it happened today. But I wouldn't be recording in the first place anyways since I'm done with that. Anyways this whole thing was only a 1 year period of time. Not like it's been going on for years and years.

Anyways, I think I got enough information from this thread. I can't read any more posts of ppl saying I need therapy or I'm sick. It just makes the whole thing feel worse. Only thing I can do in this situation is try to stay as positive as I can. Thanks for all the helpful replies guys. I'm going to try to turn my life around, wish me luck.

I do wish you luck. But to do your best at making your luck turn out to be good instead of bad, get a lawyer and do not talk about this incident with ANYONE except that attorney. Do not apologize to anyone at the school. Do not try to change anyone's opinion of you except through that attorney. Do remember that your history of assumptions of what will happen is what got you into the mess in the first place, and stop assuming that violations are not a big deal. Do remember that if the meaning of what someone says is clear, it doesn't matter if they don't actually say the words.

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Quoting cbg

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I do wish you luck. But to do your best at making your luck turn out to be good instead of bad, get a lawyer and do not talk about this incident with ANYONE except that attorney. Do not apologize to anyone at the school. Do not try to change anyone's opinion of you except through that attorney. Do remember that your history of assumptions of what will happen is what got you into the mess in the first place, and stop assuming that violations are not a big deal. Do remember that if the meaning of what someone says is clear, it doesn't matter if they don't actually say the words.

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Thanks appreciate the advice.

You're sick. There's no helping people like you. This will all continue until you do something for which you can be given a long - effectively life - prison sentence.

Not only is what you are doing sick, but from the things you are writing, and your manner of writing them, you are "off" beyond just being a pervert.

And keep deleting pictures off your computer. It won't matter. You and I both know that there were illegal things there. There are ICAC units across the country, and when they serve a search warrant, they will have no trouble recovering what you deleted. Maybe that's how you'll finally be able to be put away.

What's clear is that you have this compulsion and probably a host of other issues that aren't going to be helped.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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You and I both know that there were illegal things there. There are ICAC units across the country, and when they serve a search warrant, they will have no trouble recovering what you deleted. Maybe that's how you'll finally be able to be put away.

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Be careful, here. You don't know that he had something illegal on his computer. You don't want him suing you for defamation, do you?

As for the OP, I would advise him to go to youtube and watch clips of Olympic gymnastics competitions. Or do you puritans think that he should be arrested for watching those as well?

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Quoting John_28

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Be careful, here. You don't know that he had something illegal on his computer. You don't want him suing you for defamation, do you?

As for the OP, I would advise him to go to youtube and watch clips of Olympic gymnastics competitions. Or do you puritans think that he should be arrested for watching those as well?

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This isn't a court of law, it's a public conversation. I "KNOW" that he did, yes. And I don't have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt here.

As for suing me for defamation, that's so asinine that I'm not even going to comment on it.

As for watching clips on YouTube, I don't think he should do anything to further this compulsion, which most behavioral scientists now agree cannot be cured but merely managed. I think he should take lots of cold showers and do whatever else is therapist tells him to. Time and again, it's been shown that these types trying to fulfill their sick desires in (sometimes barely) legal ways only ratchets up their libido until they can't resist the real thing. Your advice is not good advice.

And I don't know whether you are a lawyer or merely playing one on the internet, but this isn't a game. Real children are harmed and scarred for life by people like this. This isn't some contest, where the cops and everyone else play by the rules, and if they get bested by someone like this guy, they simply say "Ohhh YOU! Well played! We'll get you another day you rascal" and everyone leaves slapping each others backs. This is deadly serious, with horrible consequences, and the cops need to do anything they can to get people like this off the streets. And people like you, trying to advise him on how he might theoretically beat this, and defending this technical right to film, etc. are almost as low as people like him.

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Quoting John_28

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As for the OP, I would advise him to go to youtube and watch clips of Olympic gymnastics competitions. Or do you puritans think that he should be arrested for watching those as well?

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You need to start behaving yourself in this forum. Thanks.

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Quoting DeputyDog

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This isn't a court of law, it's a public conversation. I "KNOW" that he did, yes. And I don't have to prove that beyond a reasonable doubt here.

As for suing me for defamation, that's so asinine that I'm not even going to comment on it.

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First of all, in a court of law, if you were speculating that the OP did something illegal, that speculation would not even be admissible. But, that kind of speculation in a public conversation may be defamatory and therefore actionable.

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Time and again, it's been shown that these types trying to fulfill their sick desires in (sometimes barely) legal ways only ratchets up their libido until they can't resist the real thing. Your advice is not good advice.

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Actually, what I've read is that, the more prevalent legal pornography is in a given state or area, the *lower* the rate of sexual assault in that state or area.

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And I don't know whether you are a lawyer or merely playing one on the internet, but this isn't a game. Real children are harmed and scarred for life by people like this. This isn't some contest, where the cops and everyone else play by the rules, and if they get bested by someone like this guy, they simply say "Ohhh YOU! Well played! We'll get you another day you rascal" and everyone leaves slapping each others backs. This is deadly serious, with horrible consequences, and the cops need to do anything they can to get people like this off the streets.

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We're supposed to get rid of the rule of law in these situations?

If the school wants to legally prevent videotaping, then the school can enact a rule that says that no member of the audience can engage in videotaping. The school can hire its own videographer to videotape, and can then sell the videotapes only to parents of the gymnasts. That may be a legal way for the school to regulate videotaping.

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Quoting John_28

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First of all, in a court of law, if you were speculating that the OP did something illegal, that speculation would not even be admissible. But, that kind of speculation in a public conversation may be defamatory and therefore actionable.

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Since the OP has already been arrested and convicted once for doing the same thing, he basically admitted himself that he did something illegal.

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Actually, what I've read is that, the more prevalent legal pornography is in a given state or area, the *lower* the rate of sexual assault in that state or area.

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Care to cite your source for those stats?

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We're supposed to get rid of the rule of law in these situations?

If the school wants to legally prevent videotaping, then the school can enact a rule that says that no member of the audience can engage in videotaping. The school can hire its own videographer to videotape, and can then sell the videotapes only to parents of the gymnasts. That may be a legal way for the school to regulate videotaping.

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Wrong, a school can certainly stop a stranger from videotaping children.

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Quoting llworking

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Care to cite your source for those stats?

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Bill Maher and Chicago Tribune columnist Steve Chapman.

They're not sources. They're the voices who said the words.

What study are they using as a basis for their statements?

I think the best solution would have been a warning and to seek that the video was deleted. If you continued the action then I could see them press charges. You told them you were going to leave and I assume also delete the video. If there was no sign that stated"No Filming of event without permission Ed Code XYZ" then I can see them press charges.

In your situation they overstepped the boundaries and stopped you from leaving. How long were you detained? If you were detained for an unreasonable amount of time use this to your defense. Also what damages were suffered from a 2 second video? You did not post this online so how could you have infringed any copyright? Its just like recording a PBS program for your own personal edification and then delete it a year later.

I have recorded many PBS programs on my DVR/DVR Recorder, took video of a live sporting event, dance concert and did not post it online as was not told to stop recording or to leave. Now I would ask permission if I wanted to use the video to post online if it was denied I would just move on.

I can see how having a Press Pass fro commercial video taping would fall into being able to post it online or on TV. But for your own personal use then how could you be charged? People take videos of people when traveling to Europe.

If everyone would press charges then Movie Cameras would not exist without a license.

Please keep us posted on the proceedings.

travelplus, I wish I had got a warning, I told the off duty cop, why can't I just get a warning. Worst part is I don't even really care about the videos. It was just because it was a habit from last year and I used the same reasoning I did last year for this year. "Thinking why not? People bring cameras to events all the time." My new thinking is always going to be, what are the consequences, what could go wrong. Is this right or wrong? What would jesus or someone smarter than me do? How will this effect my family and others (aka parents at events)? And also I know now it's not worth it, not worth losing freedom, damaging relationship with family etc. What sucks though is there are criminal misdemeanors for robbery, breaking and entering, and assault. And trespassing is grouped in with them. So if convicted, I'm grouped in with people who beat up their girlfriends and domestic violence and all that. It's not like I broke a window and climbed through it to get in the school. I'm just saying if there's any situation where you should get 3 strikes, it's this. Just walking through door and holding a camera here and there isn't as bad as those bigger crimes. And again I'm not trying to absolve myself of what I did, I know what I did was wrong, and there's no way to justify it anymore. Just don't think I deserve jail time especially since I'm as committed as ever to not break the law again.

I have contacted some lawyers. One has a high rating on avvo and he said he would give me a discount since I'm broke and charge only $500. He felt pretty confident he could get me a ACD or get the charge reduced to disorderly conduct. I'm going to find out who my free legal counsel is tomorrow.

What should I do though? It does seem better to pay for a lawyer. But there's not much a lawyer could investigate. I mean the one coach signed a statement saying he asked me to stop even though that's not true. He left and allowed me to stay there for another 30 min. But there's no proof of that, and if there was a witness, they couldn't want to help me anyways. So only thing to investigate maybe would be how off duty cop stopped me from leaving but I think the cops told me he was allowed to do that maybe since he's a cop. Maybe could investigate what you said about sign saying no recording. But again cops said I was arrested just for being on the property since I was warned not to return. And again that isn't true. Of course I should have read between the lines. Anyways how much could someone investigate in 2 days or so.

So basically what Im saying is, even if there's a slight chance the paid lawyer could improve my odds, maybe by the way they negotiate, I should still take it right?

Avvo ratings are easily manipulated, and they defend the inaccuracy of their algorithm by claiming that it's an "opinion".

You are free to take your case to trial, and to try to convince the judge or jury that the coach is lying and gave you permission to move to the front of the audience to film the children, while he watched, before telling the police that you had been told to leave and returned to film the children. Even if I were otherwise inclined to believe you, your admission that you knew the coach was instructing you to leave undermines your credibility. Oh yes... and the fact that you previously did exactly the same thing, resulting in exactly the same charge.

You will assess what a lawyer is likely to be able to achieve for you after interviewing the attorneys you are thinking about retaining to represent you.

Mr. Knowitall I don't want to take the case to trial but what if that is the only option? What if prosecutor's only deal is jail time of 1-2 months. Well I'd have to go to trial wouldn't I? Worst case scenario I get 2-3 months maybe? I don't know but at least I would have a chance of not getting a criminal record and getting a lesser charge if people heard me out and realized I'm not a threat. But I really don't want to see a packed court house with a ton of parents. Yikes.

Mr. knowitall, any additional questions I should ask when interviewing the lawyer? I only asked the other lawyer just if he thought I could avoid jail time and get a lesser charge and he said yeah felt pretty confident, but of course it's not a guarantee. Btw ratings might be manipulated but this guy had like 20+ reviews on his page.

I keep thinking like why can't I just get community service. That is something that takes up your time just like jail and it punishes you but you don't get a criminal record.

It's not up to you what you get. If you don't want a criminal record don't do things that are liable to lead to one.

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Quoting travelplus

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I think the best solution would have been a warning and to seek that the video was deleted. If you continued the action then I could see them press charges. You told them you were going to leave and I assume also delete the video. If there was no sign that stated"No Filming of event without permission Ed Code XYZ" then I can see them press charges.

In your situation they overstepped the boundaries and stopped you from leaving. How long were you detained? If you were detained for an unreasonable amount of time use this to your defense. Also what damages were suffered from a 2 second video? You did not post this online so how could you have infringed any copyright? Its just like recording a PBS program for your own personal edification and then delete it a year later.

I have recorded many PBS programs on my DVR/DVR Recorder, took video of a live sporting event, dance concert and did not post it online as was not told to stop recording or to leave. Now I would ask permission if I wanted to use the video to post online if it was denied I would just move on.

I can see how having a Press Pass fro commercial video taping would fall into being able to post it online or on TV. But for your own personal use then how could you be charged? People take videos of people when traveling to Europe.

If everyone would press charges then Movie Cameras would not exist without a license.

Please keep us posted on the proceedings.

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In this particularly case its almost impossible that a warning would have been issued. He was previously arrested for the same thing.