Ruiz v. State

Kenneth Ruiz failed to immediately leave the parking lot of a nightclub when asked to do so by an off-duty police officer, was charged with and convicted of trespass in a structure, and was sentenced to forty days in jail. Because the parking lot was not a part of the “curtilage” of the nightclub, we reverse.

Ruiz was charged with second-degree attempted murder of a law enforcement officer, resisting with violence, and trespass in a structure or conveyance. These charges arose from an altercation in the parking lot of Giorgio’s nightclub where Ruiz celebrated his birthday with friends. A…