## Facts

- Public Service Company of Oklahoma (PSO) owned the Black Fox Station site, a large tract intended for nuclear power facilities and subject to federal regulatory oversight.
- PSO maintained access controls: entry through designated gates, use of a designated viewing area, and permission-plus-escort requirements for other areas, citing safety and site protection.
- During an anti-nuclear protest on June 2, 1979, PSO posted fence signs and issued loudspeaker warnings that unauthorized entrants would be arrested.
- Nine reporters entered the property with protestors by crossing the fence into restricted areas despite the warnings and access rules.
- The reporters were arrested, tried in a consolidated bench trial, and convicted of Trespass after Being Forbidden under 21 O.S. 1971 § 1835; each was fined $25.
- The trial court found a sufficiently close relationship between PSO and government entities to treat PSO’s actions as governmental for First Amendment analysis.

## Issues

1. Whether the reporters’ entry onto the site, after posted and announced warnings, satisfied the elements of “Trespass after Being Forbidden” under 21 O.S. 1971 § 1835 despite no proof of property damage and a claimed purpose of newsgathering.
2. Whether the First Amendment provides a defense to criminal trespass when reporters enter restricted property without consent in order to gather news, even assuming the property owner’s conduct is treated as state action.

## Decision

- The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals affirmed the convictions and fines.
- The court held the reporters’ conduct fell within § 1835 because they willfully entered after being expressly forbidden; proof of damage was not required.
- The court held the First Amendment does not shield reporters from prosecution for violating a generally applicable trespass statute while gathering news.

## Legal Principles

- A trespass-after-being-forbidden statute is satisfied by willful entry or remaining on another’s premises after express notice forbidding entry; property damage is not an element unless the statute requires it.
- The press has no constitutional privilege to violate laws of general applicability, including trespass laws, in order to gather news.
- Even when First Amendment standards apply, enforcement of neutral access restrictions and trespass laws against reporters does not become unconstitutional solely because the event is newsworthy.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed misdemeanor trespass convictions of reporters who entered a restricted facility site after explicit warnings, holding that intent to report on a protest did not negate statutory trespass and that the First Amendment does not provide immunity from prosecution for newsgathering that violates a neutral trespass law.


Stahl v. State, 665 P.2d 839 (Okla. Crim. App. 1983)