What am I in for?

What is the name of your state? New Jersey

A friend and I were simply walking around in a neighborhood near my house. My friend sees a scooter he is interested in, in a garage so we walk in. Later the police stop us and ask us questions. My friend told them that he may have been thinking about stealing a soda, I\'m not sure if he said "I" or \"we". All of what we said was video taped and recorded before we were read our rights. We were then arrested and charged with criminal trespassing. Any help would be much appreciated. We're both 14 and have never been in trouble before.

You just walked into someone else's garage? Please tell me that you were invited or that there was a garage sale going on.

Please don't tell me that you just walked into someone's garage without their knowledge or permission to examine their belongings.

Nope, just walked in to examine their belongings.

Hmmmmm....

You don't just walk in to somones garage to check out their belongings.
You don't just see somone elses scooter sitting in their garage and just walk in to check it out.

Did you know the person who' s house it was?

Sounds like he was about to steal the scooter, or that you guys don't have much common sense, or both.

If you didn't know what he was up to , you need a new freind.

Thanks for your opinion but I didn't for advice picking friends I'm asking the legal aspects of the situation.

The legal aspects of the situation is that it sounds like you were correctly charged.

Politely request your parents to consult with a lawyer.

And stay out of places you don't have permission to be, while leaving other people's belongings strictly alone.

I was charged with a 4th degree crime. I believe for trespassing to be a fourth degree crime it must be in a dwelling a school or research facility perhaps I can get the charges reduced to a disorderly person offense by arguing the garage is not a dwelling?

Maximuus said:

I was charged with a 4th degree crime. I believe for trespassing to be a fourth degree crime it must be in a dwelling a school or research facility perhaps I can get the charges reduced to a disorderly person offense by arguing the garage is not a dwelling?

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Ha ha ha. WRONG! Was it part of someone's home?

I was charged with a 4th degree crime. I believe for trespassing to be a fourth degree crime it must be in a dwelling a school or research facility perhaps I can get the charges reduced to a disorderly person offense by arguing the garage is not a dwelling?

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No. *You* will not be able to argue such a thing. I would have to look up case law to be sure, but you may or may not be right. However, a kid will not be able to argue anything to a bunch of people who do this as their job. I can assure you they know the definitions and case law on the matter far better than you and you will not convince them otherwise. Besides, you may not be able to argue by court rules. Your parent would need to do the arguing--or your attorney. I suggest attorney as I don't think your parent would be able to determine the issues either.

I do give an award to you, you have added a comment to the list of obvious lies which people think others may believe:

--Just two beers.
--She said she was eighteen.
--I just barely got here.
and your contribution:
--just walked in to examine their belongings.

Uh-huh. Sell it to someone who's buying. Then, straighten up and start respecting other's property. Otherwise you will turn into nothing more than a punk--if you aren't one already.

I know I will not be arguing anything, I have a lawyer. I'm also not sure you guys understand exactly what happened so I will clarify. We were not all the way inside her garage touching and looking at her scooter. When she came out into the garage we had just stepped in, we were barley more than id say 2 or 3 feet into the garage.

omg, it seems like too many people in this forum are obcessed in getting their opinions out. I thought this forum was for finding facts, not getting peoples moral outlook on life which is usually obscured by their fear of all things illegal. Just because you do something illegal doesn't mean you've done a damn thing wrong. Anyway, because I a 17 year old, who doesn't know nearly as much as these sages, care about helping, I would ask. Is this your first offence?

Jeremiah767 said:

omg, it seems like too many people in this forum are obcessed in getting their opinions out. I thought this forum was for finding facts, not getting peoples moral outlook on life which is usually obscured by their fear of all things illegal. Just because you do something illegal doesn't mean you've done a damn thing wrong. Anyway, because I a 17 year old, who doesn't know nearly as much as these sages, care about helping, I would ask. Is this your first offence?

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Your question is irrelevant.

(Hint: Read the first post.)

I'm sorry?, you mean the question about first offence right? If that's the case, I don't understand why its not relevant. Is it not taken into consideration by the court for this particular type of charge, and if so, or if its something else complicated like that I'd remind you that I'm 17 years old, not a lawyer.

Jeremiah767 said:

I'm sorry?, you mean the question about first offence right? If that's the case, I don't understand why its not relevant. Is it not taken into consideration by the court for this particular type of charge, and if so, or if its something else complicated like that I'd remind you that I'm 17 years old, not a lawyer.

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We know. We can tell. It's obvious.

You're beginning an argument about the law with a judge. How smart are you?

Jeremiah767 said:

I'm sorry?, you mean the question about first offence right? If that's the case, I don't understand why its not relevant. Is it not taken into consideration by the court for this particular type of charge, and if so, or if its something else complicated like that I'd remind you that I'm 17 years old, not a lawyer.

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The GENERAL rule (and I will admit I know zilch about juvenile offenses in New Jersey) is that juvenile court won't give you a break because it is a first offense.