Bindinglaw

AL · jury_instructions

Ala. Pattern Jury Instr. (Criminal) 13A-7-3

Criminal Trespass Second Degree

activein force · 2024-08-13 – presentas-observed

Criminal Trespass Second

Degree

The defendant is charged with criminal trespass in the second degree.

A person commits the crime of criminal trespass in the second degree if he/she

knowingly enters or remains unlawfully in a building or upon real property which is

fenced or enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders.

To convict, the State must prove beyond a reasonable doubt each of the

following elements:

(1) The defendant entered or remained unlawfully in a building or upon

real property which was fenced or enclosed in a manner designed to

exclude intruders, the property of [insert name]; (AND)

(2) The defendant did so knowingly.

A person Enters or Remains Unlawfully in or upon premises when he/she is not

licensed, invited or privileged to do so. A person who, regardless of his/her intent,

enters or remains in or upon premises which are at the time open to the public does

so with license and privilege unless he/she defies a lawful order not to enter or

remain, personally communicated to him/her by the owner of such premises or other

authorized person. A license or privilege to enter or remain in a building which is partly

open to the public is not a license or privilege to enter or remain in that part of the

building which is not open to the public. A person who enters or remains upon

unimproved and apparently unused land, which is neither fenced nor otherwise

enclosed in a manner designed to exclude intruders, does so with license and

privileges unless notice against trespass is personally communicated to him/her by

the owner of such land or other authorized person, or unless such notice is given by

posting in a conspicuous manner. [13A-7-1(3)]

Premises includes any building and any real property. [13A-7-1(5)]

A Building is any structure which may be entered and utilized by persons for

business, public use, lodging or the storage of goods, and such term includes any

vehicle, aircraft or watercraft used for the lodging of persons or carrying on business

therein, and such term includes any railroad box car or other rail equipment or trailer

or tractor trailer or combination thereof. Where a building consists of two or more units

separately occupied or secure, each shall be deemed both a separate building and a

part of the main building. [13A-7-1(1)]

Posting in a Conspicuous Manner is a sign or signs posted on the property,

reasonably likely to come to the attention of intruders, indicating that entry is

forbidden or the placement of identifying purple paint marks on trees or posts on the

property, provided that the marks satisfy all of the following:

a. Are vertical lines of not less than eight inches in length and not less than

one inch in width;

b. Are placed so that the bottom of the mark is not less than three feet from

the ground or more than five feet from the ground; (AND)

c. Are placed at locations that are readily visible to any person approaching

the property and are no more than 100 feet apart on forest land or 1,000 feet

apart on land other than forest land. [13A-7-1(4)]

An intruder acts Knowingly if he/she is aware of the fact that he/she has no

license or privilege to enter or remain. [13A-2-2(2)]

If you find from the evidence that the State has proved beyond a reasonable

doubt each of the above elements of criminal trespass in the second degree, then you

shall find the defendant guilty of criminal trespass in the second degree.

If you find that the State has failed to prove any one or more of the elements

of criminal trespass in the second degree, then you cannot find the defendant

guilty of criminal trespass in the second degree.

[If lesser-included offenses are included, the Court should instruct on those offenses at

this point.]

[Approved 08-13-24]

History

[Approved 08-13-24]

Provenance

Source
judicial.alabama.gov
Retrieved
2026-08-20
Edition
2026-08-20
Content hash
569c176fa59abf270e8f2e9342c6c8cc80056e8832dfa8a91a67c51990e02f2f
View the official source →

The link goes to the issuing authority’s own document — the one we read to produce this record. Where a source publishes whole titles rather than sections, your browser may need a moment to jump to the provision.

Unofficial copy of government-published law, reproduced from official sources with full provenance. Not an official publication; verify against official sources before relying on it in a filing. Records in the 'guidance' corpus, and only that corpus, are sub-regulatory (interpretive guidelines, survey procedures) and are not binding law. Validity bounds follow each jurisdiction's declared temporalBasis.

Coverage · API docs

Bindinglaw

Point-in-time US law with the receipt attached. Source URL, retrieval time, content hash, and validity dates on every answer.

curl api.binding.law/v1/law/coverage

© 2026 binding.law · a Jubal, Inc. productAttorneys and firms never pay. Ever.
Ala. Pattern Jury Instr. (Criminal) 13A-7-3 · binding.law