Property Invasion, Damages, Trespass Tresspassing to help dog

My neighbor had a puppy chained most of the time and without shelter in January during a very cold spell. I went to her door and knocked in hopes of meeting with her to ask about the pup's health. She was home but did not answer the door. Later, another neighbor and myself took the pup to my garage and fed him, dried him off and took him back. The yard is not fenced and is directly behind my lot and the dog was in clear view
I am now being charged with criminal tresspassing. I did not do any damage to the property and was only concerned with the pup. Yes.. I agree I should have called animal control first but it was a Sunday and very cold and the dog needed attention asap. Can anyone help me with Iowa's laws pertaining to tresspassing? I appreciate your help.

slamina said:

My neighbor had a puppy chained most of the time and without shelter in January during a very cold spell. I went to her door and knocked in hopes of meeting with her to ask about the pup's health. She was home but did not answer the door. Later, another neighbor and myself took the pup to my garage and fed him, dried him off and took him back. The yard is not fenced and is directly behind my lot and the dog was in clear view
I am now being charged with criminal tresspassing. I did not do any damage to the property and was only concerned with the pup. Yes.. I agree I should have called animal control first but it was a Sunday and very cold and the dog needed attention asap. Can anyone help me with Iowa's laws pertaining to tresspassing? I appreciate your help.

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Trespassing is very simple. Did you enter onto the property without permission. The fact that you took the dog, for whatever reason, is of no consequence. Well, insofar as your defense is concerned. If I were you, I'd be asking for a deal. You can't defend against some crimes. This is one of them.

You had privilege!

Criminal Trespass? You have got to be kidding!

First of all, my hat is off to you and your friend for going to the rescue of the poor defenseless pup and if anyone should be in the dock here, it is the heathen neighbor and the charge should be animal cruelty. Period! And what bunch of imbecile keystone cops would even consider bringing such ridiculous charge?

Anyways, trespass laws are not state-specific and are mainly civil tort indiscretions requiring the showing of specific intent and some kind of damages. There is however a doctrine called Privilege that trumps and is an absolute defense to trespass and you should invoke it to get off this inane charge and it goes like this:

Privilege permits reasonable breach or invasion of private property rights in the face of an Emergency. And emergency is defined as a situation which threatens lives or property and requires immediate attention. So basically, you can breach someone's property to take care of an emergency but should leave once the emergency is over, if you do not, only then your presence will be considered trespass ab initio. Accordingly, you did attend to a situation which required immediate attention which threatened the life of an animal and withdrew on completion of the act and that is all she wrote.

That said, the cops may be idiotic enough to levy such a charge, but I don't believe for a second that the district attorney's office will elect to prosecute such a case and it shall be rejected outright. Nobody in their right mind would prosecute someone for rescuing an animal.

fredrikklaw

This is not even close to being a criminal trespass.
Were you contacted by police over this? Have you received a summons to appear in court? Can you provide the criminal statute that you are charged with?

This will not go anywhere... don't get too upset about it.

It seems you could provide a little more info about how this came to be...

slamina said:

My neighbor had a puppy chained most of the time and without shelter in January during a very cold spell. I went to her door and knocked in hopes of meeting with her to ask about the pup's health. She was home but did not answer the door. Later, another neighbor and myself took the pup to my garage and fed him, dried him off and took him back. The yard is not fenced and is directly behind my lot and the dog was in clear view
I am now being charged with criminal tresspassing. I did not do any damage to the property and was only concerned with the pup. Yes.. I agree I should have called animal control first but it was a Sunday and very cold and the dog needed attention asap. Can anyone help me with Iowa's laws pertaining to tresspassing? I appreciate your help.

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First off, yes unfortunaly it was tresspassing.

But even after this I WOULD CALL ANIMAL CONTROL NOW.
Because this sounds like someone who would not only neglect this puppy, but now that you have tried to help the puppy, she will probably negect it more or even HARM it because of SPITE. So call somebody NOW, trust me.

It is not in any way a criminal trespass (as described).

I apologize for not attending to your helpful posts. This spiraled out of control!! Either way I apologize and thank you all for your suggestions.
Appeared in court and was charged with tresspassing. The exact statue I would have to find in my pile of papers. It is on my record though. I believe the owner of the dog was working with the police because they were defending her beyond belief. She had a pending drug charge during this time and is now free of the charge and even working for the city fire department. At that point, I just gave up because she was protected and no way could I fight this anylonger. I'm still angry after all this time.
I did stress alot throughout this and wasn't gaining any ground so gave in and let it go....
Thanks again to you all.