Criminal trespass in Arizona is governed by three statutes that sort the offense into three degrees, and the degree you’re charged with depends on what kind of property you entered and how. Penalties run from a Class 3 misdemeanor with a 30-day jail maximum up to a Class 5 felony with a presumptive 1.5-year prison term and an aggravated maximum of 2.5 years for a first-time offender. Even the lightest version leaves a criminal record.
First-Degree Criminal Trespass
First-degree trespass under A.R.S. 13-1504 is the most serious form and covers six specific situations.1Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-1504 – Criminal Trespass in the First Degree; Classification The classification jumps around inside this single statute, so the label “first-degree” alone doesn’t tell you the penalty.
- Entering or staying in someone’s home without permission. Class 6 felony.
- Entering a fenced residential yard. Class 1 misdemeanor.
- Entering a residential yard and looking into the home with reckless disregard for the occupant’s privacy. Class 1 misdemeanor.
- Entering land under a valid mineral claim or lease intending to take or explore for minerals. Class 1 misdemeanor.
- Entering property and burning, defacing, or destroying a religious symbol or religious property without consent. Class 6 felony.
- Entering or staying in a critical public service facility such as a power plant or water treatment center. Class 5 felony.
The critical public service facility category carries the stiffest trespass exposure in Arizona: a presumptive 1.5-year prison term for a first-time felony offender, with an aggravated maximum of 2.5 years.2Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-702 – First Time Felony Offenders; Sentencing; Definition If you see restricted-access signage on infrastructure like a substation, treat it as a hard boundary.
Second-Degree Criminal Trespass
Second-degree trespass under A.R.S. 13-1503 covers entering or remaining in a nonresidential structure or a fenced commercial yard without permission.3Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-1503 – Criminal Trespass in the Second Degree; Classification This is the charge that typically gets filed when someone refuses to leave a store, restaurant, or office after being told to go, or when someone slips into a closed business after hours or a fenced construction site.
The offense is a Class 2 misdemeanor. The maximum penalty is four months in jail and a $750 fine, with up to two years of probation available.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-707 – Misdemeanors; Sentencing5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-802 – Fines for Misdemeanors
Third-Degree Criminal Trespass
Third-degree trespass under A.R.S. 13-1502 is the least severe form. It applies when someone enters or stays on any real property after a reasonable request to leave by the owner, someone in control of the property, or a law enforcement officer. It also covers ignoring posted “No Trespassing” signs and entering railroad property without authorization.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-1502 – Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree; Classification
This is a Class 3 misdemeanor. The maximum is 30 days in jail and a $500 fine, with up to a year of probation.4Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-707 – Misdemeanors; Sentencing5Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-802 – Fines for Misdemeanors The typical scenarios are lingering in a parking lot, wandering onto agricultural land, or camping on vacant property after being told to leave. The sentence is light, but a conviction still creates a criminal record.
What “Knowingly” Means, and Why Curtilage Matters
Every degree of Arizona trespass requires that you acted “knowingly.” You had to be aware that you didn’t have permission, or that permission had been revoked. That mental element is what separates a criminal charge from an honest mistake, and it’s where a lot of these cases turn.
You don’t have to break in or climb a fence to be charged. Walking into a yard after the owner tells you to leave counts. So does staying in a business after an employee asks you to go. What matters is whether a reasonable person in your position would have understood the entry was unauthorized.
“Curtilage” is worth knowing about because it stretches home protection outward. Curtilage is the area immediately surrounding a home that courts treat as part of the residence itself. Federal courts use a four-factor test from United States v. Dunn: proximity to the dwelling, whether the area is enclosed, what it’s used for, and the steps the resident took to shield it from public view. Entering curtilage without permission can trigger the same first-degree charge as entering the house.
Federal Land in Arizona Is a Separate Track
A large share of Arizona is federal land: national parks, Bureau of Land Management territory, and military installations. Trespass on those lands is prosecuted under federal law, not the Arizona statutes above, and the process runs in federal court.
Under 18 U.S.C. 1752, knowingly entering a restricted federal building or grounds without authorization is punishable by up to one year in prison. If a deadly weapon is involved or someone suffers serious bodily injury, the maximum rises to 10 years.7Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1752 – Restricted Building or Grounds National Park Service regulations at 36 C.F.R. 2.31 prohibit entering or remaining on park property not open to the public without consent of the person in control of the area.8eCFR. 36 CFR 2.31 – Trespassing, Tampering and Vandalism On BLM land, unauthorized use or occupancy can carry fines up to $1,000 and up to 12 months of imprisonment.9eCFR. Part 9260 Law Enforcement – Criminal Watch boundary markers and closure notices.
What a Conviction Costs Beyond the Sentence
The jail time and fine are often the smallest part of the picture. A conviction stays on your record and shows up on background checks.
Firearms are the clearest example. Under A.R.S. 13-3101, anyone convicted of a felony in Arizona is a “prohibited possessor” and cannot legally own or carry a firearm unless civil rights are restored.10Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-3101 – Definitions Federal law imposes the same bar independently. A first-degree trespass felony triggers both.
Employment is another pressure point. Jobs that require security clearances, professional licensing, or positions of trust can be closed off by a felony trespass conviction. Housing is similar. Landlords routinely screen for criminal history, and public housing authorities have broad discretion to deny applicants with trespass convictions. Federal law only mandates automatic denial for two offense types (methamphetamine manufacturing in public housing and lifetime sex offender registration); everything else is set by the individual housing authority, and lookback periods of five years or longer are common for felonies. If one household member is ineligible, the whole family can be denied.
On top of the sentence itself, a judge can order restitution to the property owner for damage caused during the trespass, and repeat offenders face longer probation, higher fines, and mandatory community service.
Defenses That Actually Work
The “knowingly” requirement is the most common line of defense. If the property had no signs, no fencing, and no one told you to leave, it gets harder for the prosecution to prove you knew you were unauthorized. Courts look at whether you had reasonable notice.6Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-1502 – Criminal Trespass in the Third Degree; Classification
Consent is a straightforward defense. If the owner or someone authorized to grant access invited you on, there’s no trespass. This comes up in landlord-tenant disputes, where a tenant facing eviction is accused of trespassing. Arizona sets specific procedures and minimum notice periods before an eviction case can even be heard, and a tenant who remains during that legal process hasn’t committed trespass.11Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 33 Section 33-1377 – Special Detainer Actions
Necessity is available in narrow circumstances. Under A.R.S. 13-417, if you entered property to avoid serious imminent harm and trespassing was your only reasonable option, the law may excuse the entry. Ducking into a stranger’s garage during a flash flood or fleeing an attacker are the kinds of situations that fit. The bar is high: you have to show the harm you avoided was greater than the harm your trespass caused, and that no reasonable alternative existed.12Arizona Legislature. Arizona Revised Statutes Title 13 Section 13-417 – Necessity Defense
Certain people also carry statutory privilege to enter private property. Process servers taking the most direct route to serve legal documents, and emergency responders acting during a crisis, are typically protected as long as they leave promptly. Not every unauthorized entry is criminal.