(a) A person who is convicted of violating subsection (a) of Section traffic sign; notification; destruction, defacement, etc., of traffic sign or traffic control device; defacement of public building or property” class=”unlinked-ref” datatype=”S” sessionyear=”2020″ statecd=”AL” title=”13A”>13A-8-71 shall be fined not more than fifty dollars ($50).

Attorney's Note

Under the Alabama Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class C felony1 to 10 yearsup to $15,000
Class A misdemeanorup to 1 yearup to $6,000
Class B misdemeanorup to 6 monthsup to $3,000
For details, see Ala. Code § 13A-5-6 and Ala. Code § 13A-5-7
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Terms Used In Alabama Code 13A-8-72

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • property: includes both real and personal property. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • traffic sign: shall mean any traffic sign, traffic signal, warning sign, guideboard, milepost, road marker, emergency telephone sign, or any similar sign, signal, or device used by the state or any political subdivision of the state on the highways, roads, bridges, or streets of this state for the warning, instruction, or information of the public. See Alabama Code 13A-8-70
(b) A person who is convicted of intentionally destroying, knocking down, removing, defacing, or altering a traffic sign pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 13A-8-71 or defacing a public building or public property pursuant to subsection (d) of Section 13A-8-71, where the damage inflicted is more than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), is guilty of a Class C felony.
(c) A person who is convicted of intentionally destroying, knocking down, removing, defacing, or altering a traffic sign pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 13A-8-71 or defacing a public building or public property pursuant to subsection (d) of Section 13A-8-71, where the damage inflicted is more than five hundred dollars ($500), but less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500), is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor.
(d) A person who is convicted of intentionally destroying, knocking down, removing, defacing, or altering a traffic sign pursuant to subsection (c) of Section 13A-8-71 or defacing a public building or public property pursuant to subsection (d) of Section 13A-8-71, where the damage inflicted is less than five hundred dollars ($500) is guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.
(e) The parents of a minor under the age of 18 years with whom the minor is living and who have custody of the minor shall be liable for actual damages, plus court costs, for the destruction or defacement of any public road sign or the defacement of any public building or public property by the intentional acts of the minor.
(f) Any minor who is convicted of violating this article shall be ordered by the court to correct or clean up any destruction or defacement of which the minor has been convicted.