Caught Trespassing on Abandoned Property
My question involves criminal law for the state of: Nebraska
My question has to deal with me and a buddy of mine getting arrested for 2nd Degree Trespassing. There is this abandoned farm that we heard about off some gravel roads here in Nebraska, so we went to check it out on Sunday night at about 11:30PM. After about 5-10 minutes from the time we arrived, there was car driving up the road that leads to it and it happened to be a police officer. No one called him in, he was just patrolling the land and we happened to be on it. He said we were being arrested for trespassing and said that there was a spray painted "NO TRESPASSING" on the side of a trailer that was off the side of the road on the way up to the farm. We were unable to see it at night and no one would be looking in that direction unless they already knew it was there and you would have to point a light directly at it to see it.
I was wondering what we can do to defend ourselves in court so that we don't have these charges on our records. Thanks
Re: Caught Trespassing on Abandoned Property
Your most sensible approach to defending yourselves in court, of course, is to hire a criminal defense lawyer to represent you.
What statute were you cited for violating (give the exact statute number)?
Re: Caught Trespassing on Abandoned Property
Thanks for replying. The statute # is (28-521) 2nd Degree Trespassing
Re: Caught Trespassing on Abandoned Property
all I can say is: why does anybody believe they are not trespassing when they are obviously on property they do not own nor have permission to be on?
That is the definition of trespassing and unless you own or have permission to be on the land, you are trespassing. The building being abandoned has nothing to do with it.