17 and charged with a trespassing infraction.

[DakotaLacrosse9]

I'm from California and was recently charged with trespassing after being caught driving on a railroad service road. There were no signs posted and no fences. What kind of a penalty will I be looking at. This is my first offence and I'm going to juvenile court tomorrow to talk to a judge. Any tips? Thanks in advance.

 

[sandyclaus]

I'm from California and was recently charged with trespassing after being caught driving on a railroad service road. There were no signs posted and no fences. What kind of a penalty will I be looking at. This is my first offence and I'm going to juvenile court tomorrow to talk to a judge. Any tips? Thanks in advance.

I find it extremely unlikely that there were no signs posted. And just because there is no fence does not make it ok to go there.

If you didn't see regular traffic traveling down that road at any given time, then you should have known it was not considered a public road for your use.

 

[DakotaLacrosse9]

There were no signs posted. Nor were there fences.

Should I take pictures to give to the judge in case he or she says the same thing?

Obviously I shouldn't have been back there and I realize it... What would be the best way to go about handling this situation tomorrow when I go to court? What kind of penalty will I be facing?

 

[CdwJava]

I'm from California and was recently charged with trespassing after being caught driving on a railroad service road. There were no signs posted and no fences. What kind of a penalty will I be looking at. This is my first offence and I'm going to juvenile court tomorrow to talk to a judge. Any tips? Thanks in advance.

What code section were you cited for?

 

[DakotaLacrosse9]

I don't have the notice to appeal or the citation on hand but I believe it was something along the lines of penal code 602 maybe 602.8. Anything I've researched online was very vague.

Also - I was hoping to apply to Westpoint, and I think I'd be screwed if I had a misdemeanor. Should I mention that tomorrow to the judge?

 

[DakotaLacrosse9]

Oh, by the way, the only reason I mention a midemeanor is because when my dad and I researched the code online it said it could be either an infraction or a misdemeanor. The police officer circled infraction on the ticket, but I'm pretty sure that the judge can change that if he wants.

I didn't have any bad intentions and I was only traveling about 15mph... the only reason I was caught was because someone who also goes to my school was taking the service road aswell and got his car stuck on the tracks and there were officers on the railroad when I was on my way home. Otherwise, I would have gone unnoticed.

 

[davew128]

For as long as I live I will NEVER understood the thinking of walking along railroad tracks given the number of deaths I still see from being hit by trains.

 

[DakotaLacrosse9]

I wasn't walking. I was driving on the service road which is next to the railroad. It's a dirt road that is used by service people to work on the trains. Pretty much all of my friends and loads of other people I know have been up there. I never really thought twice about getting into trouble for it until it happened.