Walk It Through: Closing Time
Told not to stay, conduct that tends to provoke a disturbance, and battery.
At closing time, the manager tells a regular to leave, with a drink still on the bar.
Two things a person in this spot might do. Picking one shows what the law says about it.
One night at one bar. Self defense, aggravated battery, and carrying a firearm into a bar are not worked through here.
A practice walkthrough, not a prediction of how any real one will go. Legal information, not legal advice.
Words this turns on
Terms with a legal meaning that is narrower than the everyday one. Each links to the definition and the authority behind it.
- Class A misdemeanorThe highest misdemeanor class: up to $10,000, up to 9 months, or both.
- Disorderly conductViolent, abusive, indecent, profane, boisterous, unreasonably loud or otherwise disorderly conduct, under circumstances in which it tends to cause or provoke a disturbance.
- BatteryCausing bodily harm to another, by an act intended to cause bodily harm, without the harmed person's consent. A Class A misdemeanor.
- Breach of the peaceThe one condition on a secured party that takes collateral back without judicial process, such as a car bought on credit. It may do that only if it proceeds without breach of the peace.
- ForfeitureA penalty that carries money only: Class A up to $10,000, Class B up to $1,000, Class C up to $500.
- Trespass to landEntering enclosed, cultivated or undeveloped land of another without consent, or staying after being told not to. A Class B forfeiture, up to $1,000.