Montana Code 61-8-713. Injury to or removal of sign or marker as misdemeanor — penalty
61-8-713. Injury to or removal of sign or marker as misdemeanor — penalty. (1) A person who maliciously injures, defaces, damages, or removes any sign, signal, or marker, either temporarily or permanently erected on the right-of-way of any secondary, state, or interstate highway for warning, instruction, or information of the public, is guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be punished by a fine of $250, by imprisonment in the county jail for a period not exceeding 60 days, or both. This section applies to secondary, state, or interstate highways that are completed and to secondary, state, or interstate highways that are under construction or repair.
Terms Used In Montana Code 61-8-713
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Highway: has the meaning provided in 61-1-101, but includes ways that have been or are later dedicated to public use. See Montana Code 61-8-102
- person: means an individual, corporation, partnership, limited partnership, limited liability company, association, joint venture, state agency, local government unit, another state government, the United States, a political subdivision of this or another state, or any other legal or commercial entity. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Railroad: means a carrier of persons or property on cars, other than streetcars, operated on stationary rails. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- Right-of-way: means the privilege of the immediate use of the roadway. See Montana Code 61-8-102
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Traffic: means pedestrians, ridden or herded animals, vehicles, streetcars, and other conveyances either singly or together while using any highways for purposes of travel. See Montana Code 61-1-101
- train: means a steam engine or electric or other motor, with or without cars coupled to the engine, that is operated on rails. See Montana Code 61-1-101
(2)A person may not, without lawful authority, attempt to or in fact alter, deface, injure, knock down, or remove any official traffic control device or any railroad sign or signal or any inscription, shield, or insignia on or part of the sign or device.
(3)As used in this section, “railroad sign or signal” means any sign, signal, or device erected by authority of a public body or official or by a railroad and intended to give notice of the presence of railroad tracks or the approach of a railroad train or other on-track equipment.