Defective door lock helps man who mistook courthouse for hotel avoid prosecution
An Oklahoma Sooners fan who made an after-hours visit to the McLennan County Courthouse in Texas last year—mistakenly believing the facility to be the Waco Hilton—and fell asleep in a third-floor courtroom has been accepted into a pretrial intervention program.
Harold Anthony Schroeder “is an Oklahoma fan and came to Waco to see the Baylor-Oklahoma game,” his lawyer, Barrett Thomas, told the Waco Tribune. “He went to a bar downtown the night before the game and he may have had a few too many drinks, and it is our understanding that a few Baylor students contributed to him mistaking the courthouse for the Hilton. We agree with the district attorney that this case should be handled without court intervention.”
If Schroeder complies with unspecified conditions, a criminal trespass case will not be pursued.
Although the courthouse was locked, the lock on the door Schroeder used was defective, allowing him to enter simply by pulling the door open, the newspaper says. The lock has since been reinforced.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Man mistakes courthouse for Hilton hotel, winds up at county jail”
