What counts as trespassing in Arizona?
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Statute-verified answerEvery citation resolves to Arizona statute text; every figure is checked against its section. Generated by AI, verified by code.
Arizona law defines criminal trespass in three degrees, plus separate trespass offenses for state lands and posted hunting land.
Third-degree criminal trespass (A.R.S. § 13-1502). A person commits third-degree trespass by knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on any real property after a reasonable request to leave by a law enforcement officer, the owner, or any other person having lawful control over the property, or after reasonable notice prohibiting entry [1]. It also includes knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully on the right-of-way for tracks, or the storage or switching yards or rolling stock of a railroad company [1]. A request to leave from a law enforcement officer acting at the owner's or lawful controller's request has the same legal effect as a request from the owner directly [1]. Third-degree criminal trespass is a class 3 misdemeanor [1].
Second-degree criminal trespass (A.R.S. § 13-1503). A person commits second-degree trespass by knowingly entering or remaining unlawfully in or on any nonresidential structure or in any fenced commercial yard [2]. Second-degree criminal trespass is a class 2 misdemeanor [2].
First-degree criminal trespass (A.R.S. § 13-1504). A person commits first-degree trespass by knowingly: (1) entering or remaining unlawfully in or on a residential structure; (2) entering or remaining unlawfully in a fenced residential yard; (3) entering a residential yard and, without lawful authority, looking into the residential structure in reckless disregard of the inhabitant's privacy; (4) entering unlawfully on real property subject to a valid mineral claim or lease with intent to hold, work, take, or explore for minerals; (5) entering or remaining unlawfully on another's property and burning, defacing, mutilating, or otherwise desecrating a religious symbol or other religious property without the owner's express permission; or (6) entering or remaining unlawfully in or on a critical public service facility [3]. The classification depends on the paragraph: the critical-public-service-facility paragraph is a class 5 felony; the residential-structure and religious-desecration paragraphs are class 6 felonies; and the fenced-residential-yard, peering, and mineral-claim paragraphs are class 1 misdemeanors [3].
Trespass on state lands (A.R.S. § 37-501). Separately, a person is guilty of a class 2 misdemeanor for knowingly trespassing on state lands by cutting or removing timber, wood, hay, or grass, grazing livestock without an approved lease, extracting oil, gas, coal, minerals, earth, rock, fertilizer, or fossils, injuring or removing buildings, fences, or improvements, unlawfully occupying, plowing, or cultivating the lands, or with criminal negligence exposing growing trees, shrubs, or undergrowth to fire danger [4].
Hunting-related entry (A.R.S. § 17-304). Entering private land to take wildlife is not grounds for a third-degree trespass charge unless the land was properly posted with notices that include the words "no trespassing," or the person knowingly remains after a reasonable request to leave or knowingly disregards reasonable notice prohibiting entry [5].
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