2010 Mississippi Code
TITLE 97 - CRIMES
Chapter 17 - Crimes Against Property.
97-17-103 - Prohibition of recovery for injuries sustained during criminal trespass.

§ 97-17-103. Prohibition of recovery for injuries sustained during criminal trespass.
 

(1)  As used in this section: 

(a) "Perpetrator" means a person who has engaged in criminal trespass and includes a person convicted of trespass under applicable state law; 

(b) "Victim" means a person who was the object of another's criminal trespass and includes a person at the scene of an emergency who gives reasonable assistance to another person who is exposed to or has suffered grave physical harm; 

(c) "Course of criminal conduct" includes the acts or omissions of a victim in resisting criminal conduct; 

(d) "Convicted" includes a finding of guilt, whether or not the adjudication of guilt is stayed or executed, an unwithdrawn judicial admission of guilt or guilty plea, a no contest plea, a judgment of conviction, an adjudication as a delinquent child, an admission to a juvenile delinquency petition, or a disposition as an extended jurisdiction juvenile; and 

(e) "Trespass" means an offense named in Sections 97-17-1 through 97-17-97, Mississippi Code of 1972, or any attempt to commit any of these offenses. Trespass includes crimes in other states or jurisdictions which would have been within the definition set forth in this subdivision if they had been committed in this state. 

(2)  A perpetrator assumes the risk of loss, injury or death resulting from or arising out of a course of criminal trespass, as defined in this section, engaged in by the perpetrator or an accomplice, and the crime victim is immune from and not liable for any civil damages as a result of acts or omissions of the victim. 

(3)  Notwithstanding other evidence which the victim may adduce relating to the perpetrator's conviction of the crime involving the parties to the civil action, a certified copy of a guilty plea, a court judgment of guilt, a court record of conviction or an adjudication as a delinquent child is conclusive proof of the perpetrator's assumption of the risk. 

(4)  In a civil action that is subject to this section, the court shall award reasonable expenses, including attorney's fees and disbursements, to the prevailing party. 

(5)  Except to the extent needed to preserve evidence, any civil action in which the defense set forth in subsection (2) is raised shall be stayed by the court on the motion of the defendant during the pendency of any criminal action against the plaintiff based on the alleged trespass. 
 

Sources: Laws,  1997, ch. 471, § 2, eff from and after passage (approved March 27, 1997).