Criminal Trespass

What is the name of your state? OR - Oregon

I was recently charged with a criminal trespass charge for being on school grounds after hours. The time on the ticket says 4:11am, I was on school grounds with some friends lighting off fireworks, a police officer comes, my two friends run, I calmly walk to the police officer. He handcuffs me and charges me with a criminal trespass, no mention of the fireworks. On my ticket it says I am required to appear at a mandatory court date or else a warrant for my arrest may be issued. I previously had plans to travel to southern California with my brothers for a concert on the weekend of my court date. I called to reschedule this appointment and the clerk said that if I did not show, I could be arrested. Is there any way I can be able to go to this concert without a warrant being issued for my arrest? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

The courts are not there to serve you when you are ready. You need to decide what are your priorities in life.

Any other advice? As of right now my thoughts are this: go to the concert and hope that, this being my first offense, I will simply be issued another court date. What are the chances of this happening? If I do have a warrant issued, I would turn myself in and hope for the best. If that is the case, how long would I be put into jail for? Thank you in advance.

I agree - just blow off your court appearance and go to the concert. Even though there is a risk of not only jail but an increased chance that they won't give you a break on the original charge, it might be worth it because the concert will be so awesome.

Good luck!

If you dont show up, an arrest warrant will be issued, so you had better not be driving or get pulled over. Assuming your determined to go through with this, youll need to show up at the court ASAP, and be prepared to possibly be detained for a short time before you are hauled up before the judge. If you tell him you blew off the court date to see a concert, he wont be amused. If you make the court date, you may have a chance for some leniency, but if you blow it off, you might as well assume that youll get the maximum allowed penalty for what you were charged.

Easiest thing to do would be to retain an attorney to move the hearing back for you. The court will probably give your attorney a continuance once he/she is on record as your counsel.

I dont know about OR, but in Mass you need to call the DA, and ask them to change the court date. My lawyer did this for me, so you might want to contact ur lawyer or the public defenders office as well.

If I do make a very poor choice and decide to go to this concert instead of my court date, what kind of penalty would I be looking at? Would this show up on a permanent record and prevent me from possible job opportunities in the future? How many days in jail would this punishment be?
All your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Stephen E said:

If I do make a very poor choice and decide to go to this concert instead of my court date, what kind of penalty would I be looking at? Would this show up on a permanent record and prevent me from possible job opportunities in the future? How many days in jail would this punishment be?
All your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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How old are you?

If you fail to appear, a warrant will be issued for your arrest, and you will face additional charges for that failure to appear. That means you'll get the fines, sanctions, etc for the criminal mischief, and the fines, sanctions, etc for the FTA.

With the warrant, once you turn yourself in, you could find yourself spending several days in jail or juvenile detention while awaiting a court hearing. By showing contempt for the Court, by failing to appear, you increase the chances that your eventual sentence will also include jail time.

If you appear as ordered, the judge will release you on your own recognizance. This means you can be trusted to come to court, so there will be no conditions to your release.

If you don't show, there will likely be bond issued, and you will be placed on other restrictive conditions as well. If you are a juvenile, and this is going through the juvenile delinquency system, then your parents should have gotten notice of your court date as well. The court may hold your parents responsible for your failure to appear. If you are under 18, you could be removed from the home and your parents could even be charged criminally.

Call the prosecutor first to ask for a continuance. Then call the court and tell them the prosecutor is OK with continuing the matter. Worst case scenario--gonna have to skip the concert.

Stephen E said:

If I do make a very poor choice and decide to go to this concert instead of my court date, what kind of penalty would I be looking at? Would this show up on a permanent record and prevent me from possible job opportunities in the future? How many days in jail would this punishment be?
All your advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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You keep getting advice and then asking for advice about the same thing...

You need to realize that what has occurred already DOES show up on your "permanent record" (I know this is a child based on that statement). When you disclose on future job applications that you have been arrested in the past, it's entirely possible that you won't be hired based on that alone.
Ahh, to be young again and not have to worry about the consequences of my actions until after the fact...