Court Opinion

ID: 9678027
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:09:14.368698+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:01.427395
License: Public Domain

Robert H. Dudley, Justice, dissenting. The language of the statute at issue is clear and certain. It is as follows: “A person commits criminal trespass if he purposefully enters or remains unlawfully in or upon a vehicle or the premises of another person.” Ark. Stat. Ann. § 41-2004(1) (Repl. 1977). In the case at bar, the appellant remained unlawfully upon the premises of another person. The majority, in adopting the argument of the appellant, bases its opinion on the notion that the statute requires an unlawful entry. The concept is without foundation. The statute, quoted in full above, does not mandate an unlawful entry; it is applicable either when one unlawfully enters or when one remains unlawfully. After the appellant refused to pay rent and was given written notice to leave, she remained unlawfully. The clear and certain language of the statute was violated. The majority quote Carter v. Bush, 283 Ark. 16, 669 S.W.2d 902 (June 11, 1984), as stating that when two statutes are enacted on the same subject but are inconsistent, we seek to ascertain the true intent of the legislature. The citation is inappropriate for two reasons. First, the language is no longer in the opinion. See substituted opinion, Carter v. Bush, 283 Ark. 16, 677 S.W.2d 837 (1984). Second, the criminal trespass statute at issue in this case and the unlawful detainer statute are not inconsistent. The criminal trespass statute merely provides a criminal remedy for unlawfully remaining, while the unlawful detainer statute provides a civil one. These are clearly alternative remedies, not inconsistent ones. If they were inconsistent, most of our criminal statutes would be invalid because an alternative civil remedy is nearly always available. I dissent. Newbern, J., joins in this dissent.