Maine Revised Statutes

Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 806 (2026)

Criminal mischief

✓ current as of May 2026

Find cases: SyfertCases citing this section ME-LEGlegislature.maine.gov JustiaTitle on Justia CornellLII Search CasesGoogle Scholar

1. A person is guilty of criminal mischief if that person intentionally, knowingly or recklessly:

A. Damages or destroys the property of another, having no reasonable grounds to believe that the person has a right to do so; damages or destroys property to enable any person to collect insurance proceeds for the loss caused; or tampers with the property of another, having no reasonable grounds to believe that the person has the right to do so, and thereby impairs the use of that property; [PL 1991, c. 824, Pt. D, §3 (RPR).]

B. Damages, destroys or tampers with property of a law enforcement agency, fire department, or supplier of gas, electric, steam, water, transportation, sanitation or communication services to the public, having no reasonable grounds to believe that the person has a right to do so, and by such conduct recklessly creates a risk of interruption or impairment of services rendered to the public; or [PL 1991, c. 824, Pt. D, §3 (RPR).]

C. Drives or places in any tree or saw log, without the prior consent of the owner, any iron, steel or other substance sufficiently hard to damage saws or wood manufacturing or processing equipment with intent to cause inconvenience, annoyance or alarm to any other person. [PL 1991, c. 824, Pt. D, §3 (RPR).]

[PL 1991, c. 824, Pt. D, §3 (RPR).]

1-A. As used in this section, "property of another" has the same meaning as in section 352, subsection 4.

[PL 1975, c. 740, §89 (NEW).]

2. Criminal mischief is a Class D crime.

[PL 1975, c. 499, §1 (NEW).]

SECTION HISTORY

PL 1975, c. 499, §1 (NEW). PL 1975, c. 740, §§88,89 (AMD). PL 1979, c. 289 (AMD). PL 1991, c. 559 (AMD). PL 1991, c. 565 (AMD). PL 1991, c. 824, §D3 (AMD).

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 61 cases (5 in the last 5 years), 1976–2025 · leading case: Allen v. Rae, 206 A.3d 902 (Me. 2019).

Sort: Relevance Newest Treatment

Allen v. Rae, 206 A.3d 902 (Me. 2019). · cites it 7× “§ 4651(2)(C) ; 17-A M.R.S. § 806. A person commits criminal mischief when he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly damages, destroys, or tampers with the property of another "having no reasonable grounds to believe [he] has a right to do so.”

State v. Cook, 2010 ME 85 (Me. 2010). · cites it 4× “§ 353(1)(A), (B)(5) (2009); eleven counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer (Class E), 17-A M.”

State of Maine v. Matthew Reed, 2013 ME 5 (Me. 2013). · cites it 3× “§ 353(1)(B)(4) (2012), and criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A), (2) (2012), entered by the trial court (Campbell, J.”

State v. Ouellette, 37 A.3d 921 (Me. 2012). · cites it 2× “Ouellette argues that the court erred in declining to instruct the jury on his justification of self-defense to that charge, and in failing to inform the jury of the parties’ out-of-court resolution that resulted in a dismissal of a count of criminal *924 mischief (Class D),…”

State of Maine v. Joshua T. Williamson, 2017 ME 108 (Me. 2017). · cites it 2× “§ 2411(1-A)(B)(1) (2016), and criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A) (2016). Williamson argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the breath test result pursuant to 29-A M.”

State v. Holland, 2009 ME 72 (Me. 2009). · cites it 2× “Holland appeals from the judgment of conviction of one count of criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A) (2008), entered in the Superior Court (Androscoggin County, Delahanty, J.”

Laurie Allen v. Mark Rae, 2019 ME 53 (Me. 2019). · cites it 3× “§ 4651(2)(C) (2018);1 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A) (2018). I. BACKGROUND [¶2] A trust controlled by Rae’s family purchased property abutting Allen’s home in Belfast.”

State v. Shepley, 2003 ME 70 (Me. 2003). · cites it 2× “[5] 17-A M.R.S.A. § 806(1) (Supp.2002). [6] 1 M.”

State v. Stinson, 424 A.2d 327 (Me. 1981). · cites it 2× “17-A M.R.S.A. § 806. Criminal mischief 1.”

State of Maine v. J.R., 2018 ME 117 (Me. 2018). · cites it 2× “), sitting as the juvenile court, that adjudicated him of having committed two counts of criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A) (2017), and three counts of theft (Class E), 17-A M.”

State of Maine v. Michael J. Warner II, 2019 ME 140 (Me. 2019). · cites it 2× “§ 805(1)(A), (2); and one count of criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A), (2) (2018). On February 3, 2016, Warner was charged by indictment in Knox County with two counts of theft by unauthorized taking (Class B), 17-A M.”

State v. Libby, 410 A.2d 562 (Me. 1980). · cites it 2× “§ 802(1)(A) and one count of criminal mischief in violation of 17-A M.R.S.A. § 806(1)(A). Both defendants appealed, contending that the attorney for the State improperly commented on their failure to testify.”

Show all 61 citing cases →

— Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 806(1) — 2 cases

State v. Shepley, 2003 ME 70 (Me. 2003). “[5] 17-A M.R.S.A. § 806(1) (Supp.2002). [6] 1 M.”

State v. Finnemore, 1997 ME 44 (Me. 1997).

— Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 806(1)(A) — 39 cases

Allen v. Rae, 206 A.3d 902 (Me. 2019). “§ 4651(2)(C) ; 17-A M.R.S. § 806. A person commits criminal mischief when he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly damages, destroys, or tampers with the property of another "having no reasonable grounds to believe [he] has a right to do so.”

State of Maine v. Matthew Reed, 2013 ME 5 (Me. 2013). “§ 353(1)(B)(4) (2012), and criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A), (2) (2012), entered by the trial court (Campbell, J.”

State v. Ouellette, 37 A.3d 921 (Me. 2012). “Ouellette argues that the court erred in declining to instruct the jury on his justification of self-defense to that charge, and in failing to inform the jury of the parties’ out-of-court resolution that resulted in a dismissal of a count of criminal *924 mischief (Class D),…”

State of Maine v. Joshua T. Williamson, 2017 ME 108 (Me. 2017). “§ 2411(1-A)(B)(1) (2016), and criminal mischief (Class D), 17-A M.R.S. § 806(1)(A) (2016). Williamson argues that the trial court abused its discretion by admitting the breath test result pursuant to 29-A M.”

State v. Cook, 2010 ME 85 (Me. 2010). “§ 353(1)(A), (B)(5) (2009); eleven counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer (Class E), 17-A M.”

— Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 806(1)(B) — 2 cases

State v. Jacques, 537 A.2d 587 (Me. 1988).

State v. Seamans, 407 A.2d 13 (Me. 1979).

— Me. Rev. Stat. tit. 17-A, § 806(2) — 1 case

State v. Cook, 2010 ME 85 (Me. 2010). “§ 353(1)(A), (B)(5) (2009); eleven counts of theft by unauthorized taking or transfer (Class E), 17-A M.”

Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.