Brown, J.
We observe that Walls was not merely present in the common areas of Countrywide Apartments. While intoxicated, he was in the common areas at 5:15 a.m. in front of Zurita’s apartment door, awakening her by kicking or tapping on her door with his feet. He refused to leave when requested to do so, and instead knocked on the door, requested to come in, and when refused entry, began banging on the door and yelling. Walls then approached Wainwright’s and Litton’s apartment and asked Wainwright if he could enter the apartment. After being refused entry, he attempted to come in and put his foot through the threshold of the apartment. Wainwright and Litton were able to push him out of the apartment and shut the door and locked it, and Walls persisted in banging on their apartment door. Thus, Walls was not merely present in the common areas but also was positioned immediately outside the doors giving access to the leased apartment units, persistently banging on the doors to the units, and in Wainwright and Litton’s case, had his foot through the threshold of the door.
Under the circumstances of this case, the tenants, while not in exclusive control of the common areas, had a sufficient possessory interest in, at a minimum, their apartment doors, the threshold of their apartments, and the immediate adjacent areas by which they accessed their leased apartment units, to request that a person leave that specific area and stop persistently banging on their doors. A rigid rule, applied without exception, that a tenant does not have a sufficient possessory interest in such property would defy logic and lead to an absurd result.
Thus, a tenant’s possessory interest in a rental unit for the purpose of supporting a criminal trespass action may, under circumstances such as these, extend to an interest in the passageways for ingress and egress to and from the rental unit, to the area in the threshold of the unit, and to the door of the unit.
BRADFORD, J., concurs.
RILEY, J., dissents in part and concurs in part with separate opinion:
. . . I respectfully dissent with the majority’s decision to affirm Walls’ conviction and sentence for criminal trespass.
The majority veered off from our holding in Aberdeen Apartments v. Cary Campbell Realty Alliance, Inc. 820 N.E.2d 158, 164 (Ind. Ct. App. 2010) . . . . This court held in Aberdeen that a landlord held a possessory interest in the common areas. In distinguishing the interest of the tenant and the landlord, we stated that a landlord “has a sufficient possessory interest in the common areas of an apartment complex to bring an action for trespass whereas tenants retain a mere license to the common areas.” Id. at 165.
. . . .
By relying on out-of-state case law, the majority conclude that under the circumstances of this case, tenants have a sufficient possessory interest in immediate adjacent areas to their apartment for purposes of the criminal trespass statute. I find that this result leaves the fact finder in the unenviable position to determine how “adjacent” and “immediate” an area should be for a tenant to be able to request a person to leave. See Slip Op. p. 7. Pursuant to Aberdeen, I, however, find that as tenants of Countryview Apartments, Zurita and Wainwright only had exclusive possession of the apartments they leased and not of the common areas. They could therefore not ask Walls to leave the common areas of the apartment.