Appeal
from the District Court No. 3AN-13-7865 CR, Third Judicial
District, Anchorage, Jo-Ann Chung, Judge.
Cynthia L. Strout, Attorney at Law, Anchorage, for the
Appellant.
John
H. Haley, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Special
Prosecutions, Anchorage, and Craig W. Richards, Attorney
General, Juneau, for the Appellee.
Before: Mannheimer, Chief Judge, Allard, Judge, and Suddock,
Superior Court Judge.[*]
OPINION
ALLARD
Judge.
Following
a jury trial, Elizabeth Rose Hillman was convicted of
promoting contraband in the second degree, AS
11.56.380(a)(1), for "introduc[ing], tak[ing],
convey[ing], or attempt[ing] to introduce, take, or convey
contraband into a correctional facility." On appeal,
Hillman argues she could not be convicted of promoting
contraband under this subsection because this subsection was
not meant to apply to individuals in her position
(i.e., those who are incarcerated and already inside
a correctional facility).
For the
reasons explained in this opinion, we agree that
subsection(a)(1) of the statute does not apply to
Hillman's conduct. We therefore reverse her conviction.
Factual
and legal background of this case
Hillman
was serving a jail sentence at Hiland Mountain Correctional
Center. After a visit in the enclosed prison yard with a
visitor who came from outside the correctional facility,
Hillman entered the "strip-out" room - a room where
inmates are strip-searched to prevent contraband from
entering the prison from the visitor yard. When Hillman took
off her shirt and handed it to the officer on duty, a plastic
baggie fell to the floor. The baggie contained chewing
tobacco - a substance prohibited to prisoners. Based on this
incident, the State charged Hillman with second-degree
promoting contraband.
Alaska
Statute 11.56.380(a) provides for two ways that a person can
commit the crime of second-degree promoting contraband:
(a) A person commits the crime of promoting contraband in the
second degree if the person
(1) introduces, takes, conveys, or attempts to introduce,
take, or convey contraband into a correctional
facility; or
(2)makes, obtains, possesses, or attempts to make, obtain, or
possess anything that person knows to be contraband while
under official detention within a correctional facility.
(emphasis added)
Here,
Hillman was under official detention within a correctional
facility when she obtained the contraband, but she was
prosecuted under subsection (a)(1) of the statute, the
subsection enacted ...