VA · jury_instructions
Va. Model Jury Instr. Crim. No. 49.500
Claim of Right (Trespass)
If you find from the evidence that the defendant believed he had a good faith claim of right to
enter onto the property, even though this belief was mistaken, you shall find the defendant not
guilty of trespass. A good faith claim of right is a sincere, although perhaps mistaken, good faith
belief that one has a legal right to be on the property. The claim need not be of title or ownership
of the property, but it must rise to the level of authorization.
History
Virginia Model Jury Instructions – Criminal, Release 26, October 2025. The unannotated set, posted by the Supreme Court of Virginia at vacourts.gov; the book states that it is made available with the permission of the publisher, Matthew Bender & Company, Inc.
Provenance
- Source
- vacourts.gov
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-11
- Edition
- crim-2025-10-01
- Content hash
b1d4005b4f9a86a7db2d6502690de6f62c83cc98f14d5418bdd6ac1bf1815161
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