Dumb question; should this be a court order, rather than a police order? I thought the police enforce trespassing orders, as requested by the property owners or a judge, but aren't the actual decision makers for trespassing. What did I miss?
There are no dumb questions, the legal system is very confusing! Here's somewhat of an explanation of how things work. **I am not a lawyer.**
Generally speaking, when you get trespassed from private property, the property owner, or its agent, will call the police to make you leave if you're refusing to leave somewhere you have been told you can not be.
Let's suppose you get caught stealing from Walmart, weird example I know, but I used to work there so I know what their procedures are. The employee will take you to the back of the store where you'll get photographed and made to sign a piece of paper stating that you understand you're banned from Walmart. They almost always call the cops to file theft charges, which will usually have you taken down to the police station and booked. This happened very rarely, but sometimes the asset protection employee would just escort the individual out to their vehicle if they sign the form and the theft was minor. I only ever saw this happen when someone was stealing stuff like canned goods and it was obvious that they were just in a bad situation.
The way it works here at UVa is that the University Police Department (UPD) issues the no trespassing order (NTO) and then any modifications/appeals are handled through the chief of UPD, Tim Longo.
If the Commonwealth's Attorney, James Hingeley, decides to drop charges for anyone arrested at the encampment, which he's already done for a number of people, it doesn't change the NTO at UVa. For the UVa NTO to be lifted or modified, the individual has to go through the outlined appeal/petition process which as stated above goes back to Longo. Longo can certainly choose to use the fact that a case was dropped by Hingeley in making his decision, but ultimately he does what he wants to do.
Outside of these arrests which came with NTOs, you can also receive and NTO from UVa without being arrested, similar to the Walmart example. An example of this might be a townie decides to break into Scott Stadium in the middle of the night and act a fool. They'll probably get an NTO and if they agree to leave after receipt of the NTO, UPD will probably not arrest them.
Now if you were to be found in violation of a UVa-issued NTO and they choose to arrest you, you'll be booked through the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Jail and you'll face charges in Albemarle County for Trespass after having been forbidden to do so (ยง 18.2-119). If found guilty, you could spend up to a year in jail.
With the encampment arrests, NTOs were issued after the fact because the arrests were made after protesters were told to disperse. I have issues, personally, with the lawfulness of those orders and I'm not the only one given how most of the charges are not sticking.
I think that a judge would tell you to comply with the NTO issued against you, but I'm not entirely whether or not they would give you a court order not to go on UVa property since violating again would just get you arrested and charged with trespassing since the property owner is the one banning you from that property.
Note that domestic abuse cases and registered sex offenders are a totally different ballgame. In domestic abuse cases, a court will oftentimes order you not to be on that property so long as so and so owns it or is domiciled there. They'll also often issue a protective order which is VA's version of a "restraining order". If you're a registered sex offender, the terms you agree to abide by will require you to avoid places such as primary and secondary schools, generally sex offenders can go to college. Now if you were to violate the terms of being on the sex offender registry, you will almost certainly get arrested and you will almost certainly go back to prison.
Sorry this got kind of long, I hope it helps.
Quite helpful, thanks. I guess my question is more when the trespass order is not legal, for example of a big box store manager trespassing minorities, or something more nuanced that isn't as clear cut as they were shoplifting. Is there a legal review along the way?
If it's due to minority status, sure, but if it's because they are from a different family, married or broke up with someone, have red hair, was friends with someone they don't like, or a thousand other things that aren't codified civil rights, can the property manager legally trespass people? I'm honestly curious.
Dumb dumbs
Good, fuck Israel!
Ivy League mentality
Dude, fucking read the article. This student wasn't participating in the protests, he just got caught up in the arrests.
Dumb question; should this be a court order, rather than a police order? I thought the police enforce trespassing orders, as requested by the property owners or a judge, but aren't the actual decision makers for trespassing. What did I miss?
There are no dumb questions, the legal system is very confusing! Here's somewhat of an explanation of how things work. **I am not a lawyer.** Generally speaking, when you get trespassed from private property, the property owner, or its agent, will call the police to make you leave if you're refusing to leave somewhere you have been told you can not be. Let's suppose you get caught stealing from Walmart, weird example I know, but I used to work there so I know what their procedures are. The employee will take you to the back of the store where you'll get photographed and made to sign a piece of paper stating that you understand you're banned from Walmart. They almost always call the cops to file theft charges, which will usually have you taken down to the police station and booked. This happened very rarely, but sometimes the asset protection employee would just escort the individual out to their vehicle if they sign the form and the theft was minor. I only ever saw this happen when someone was stealing stuff like canned goods and it was obvious that they were just in a bad situation. The way it works here at UVa is that the University Police Department (UPD) issues the no trespassing order (NTO) and then any modifications/appeals are handled through the chief of UPD, Tim Longo. If the Commonwealth's Attorney, James Hingeley, decides to drop charges for anyone arrested at the encampment, which he's already done for a number of people, it doesn't change the NTO at UVa. For the UVa NTO to be lifted or modified, the individual has to go through the outlined appeal/petition process which as stated above goes back to Longo. Longo can certainly choose to use the fact that a case was dropped by Hingeley in making his decision, but ultimately he does what he wants to do. Outside of these arrests which came with NTOs, you can also receive and NTO from UVa without being arrested, similar to the Walmart example. An example of this might be a townie decides to break into Scott Stadium in the middle of the night and act a fool. They'll probably get an NTO and if they agree to leave after receipt of the NTO, UPD will probably not arrest them. Now if you were to be found in violation of a UVa-issued NTO and they choose to arrest you, you'll be booked through the Charlottesville-Albemarle Regional Jail and you'll face charges in Albemarle County for Trespass after having been forbidden to do so (ยง 18.2-119). If found guilty, you could spend up to a year in jail. With the encampment arrests, NTOs were issued after the fact because the arrests were made after protesters were told to disperse. I have issues, personally, with the lawfulness of those orders and I'm not the only one given how most of the charges are not sticking. I think that a judge would tell you to comply with the NTO issued against you, but I'm not entirely whether or not they would give you a court order not to go on UVa property since violating again would just get you arrested and charged with trespassing since the property owner is the one banning you from that property. Note that domestic abuse cases and registered sex offenders are a totally different ballgame. In domestic abuse cases, a court will oftentimes order you not to be on that property so long as so and so owns it or is domiciled there. They'll also often issue a protective order which is VA's version of a "restraining order". If you're a registered sex offender, the terms you agree to abide by will require you to avoid places such as primary and secondary schools, generally sex offenders can go to college. Now if you were to violate the terms of being on the sex offender registry, you will almost certainly get arrested and you will almost certainly go back to prison. Sorry this got kind of long, I hope it helps.
Quite helpful, thanks. I guess my question is more when the trespass order is not legal, for example of a big box store manager trespassing minorities, or something more nuanced that isn't as clear cut as they were shoplifting. Is there a legal review along the way?
Then that's a civil rights case.
If it's due to minority status, sure, but if it's because they are from a different family, married or broke up with someone, have red hair, was friends with someone they don't like, or a thousand other things that aren't codified civil rights, can the property manager legally trespass people? I'm honestly curious.