cameo said:
In an occupied structure-by definition-done
Already a problem in the analysis. The structure is separate from the house, an unfinished apartment over a garage. Based on the fact that it had no windows, just openings to the outside where windows were to go, no one could have interpreted this as an "occupied structure." An outbuilding adjacent to an occupied structure "can" be interpreted as part of it, if the accused knows that there is an occupied structure there.
It can't be seen in this case.
This is one of many statutes requiring the accused to have acted "knowingly." "A person acts knowingly with respect to the result of conduct described by a statute defining an offense when the person is aware that it is highly probable that the result will be caused by the person's conduct. When knowledge of the existence of a particular fact is an element of an offense, knowledge is established if a person is aware of a high probability of its existence." MCA 45-2-101.
The "awareness" requirement is why courts are generally lenient towards young people on charges like this, and especially when groups of them do something stupid together. "Behaving stupidly" is an apt definition for how people are able to act "without knowledge," -- indeed, it may be the defining characteristic for much of what young people do on their way to obtaining "knowledge." The statute does NOT, notably, use the words "or should have known." When you are simply not thinking about it, by definition you don't "have knowledge."
In its effort to reach convictions, however -- to "punish" -- the Montana Supreme Court has held that the "State was not required to prove that defendant knew he was trespassing or intended to do so," [Trujillo case] even though that is what the statute specifically requires.
The "law" often enough, itself, breaks it. That is the nicety of what we teach young people by overbearing on minor infractions of it while excusing overt misconduct in its administration. The total of $250,000 in bail in this case is part of that.