NOTICE
 

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IN THE COURT OF APPEALS OF THE STATE OF ALASKA 

CORY LYNN STONER, 

Appellant, 

v. 

STATE OF ALASKA, 

Appellee. 

Court of Appeals No. A-11976 

Trial Court No. 3AN-12-11922 CR 

O P I N I O N 

No. 2584 — January 19, 2018 

Appeal from the Superior Court, Third Judicial District, 

Anchorage, Warren W. Matthews and Michael L. Wolverton, 

Judges. 

Appearances: Brooke Berens, Assistant Public Advocate, and 

Richard Allen, Public Advocate, Anchorage, for the Appellant. 

Nancy R. Simel, Assistant Attorney General, Office of Criminal 

Appeals, Anchorage, and James E. Cantor, Acting Attorney 

General, Juneau, for the Appellee. 

Before: Mannheimer, Chief Judge, and Allard and Wollenberg, 

Judges. 

Judge MANNHEIMER. 

Cory Lynn Stoner, a felony probationer, absconded from a halfway house. 

Stoner had been placed there by the Department of Corrections while he awaited 

sentencing for violating his felony probation. 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under Alaska law, a felony defendant who absconds from officialdetention 

is guilty of a class B felony — second-degree escape. But the residents’ handbook at 

Stoner’s halfway house erroneously stated that felony defendants who absconded from 

the facility would be guilty of “unlawful evasion”. Stoner was aware (apparently, from 

previous experience, and perhaps from conversations with other residents of the halfway 

house) that the crime of “unlawful evasion” was only a misdemeanor. According to 

Stoner, he decided that it was worth the risk to abscond from the halfway house, since 

he believed that the penalty was no more than one year in prison. 

After Stoner was indicted for second-degree escape, he asked the superior 

court to dismiss this felony charge. Stoner argued that the halfway house handbook was 

at least partially responsible for misleading him into thinking that his crime was only a 

misdemeanor. Stoner further argued that because the halfway house was operatingunder 

a contract with the Department of Corrections, any misleading information in the 

handbook should be attributed to the State of Alaska itself. Thus, Stoner concluded, 

even though he absconded from the halfway house, it was unfair for the State of Alaska 

to prosecute him for a felony. 

The superior court denied Stoner’s motion to dismiss the indictment, and 

Stoner was ultimately convicted of second-degree escape. 

Stoner now appeals his conviction, renewing his argument that it is unfair 

to convict him of felony escape when the information in the halfway house handbook 

was at least partially responsible for leading him to believe that his crime would only be 

a misdemeanor. 

For the reasons explained in this opinion, we affirm Stoner’s felony 

conviction. 

– 2 – 2584
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Underlying facts 

In November 2012, Cory Lynn Stoner was facing petitions to revoke his 

probation in two felony cases. The superior court had already found that Stoner violated 

his probation, and he was awaiting sentencing for these violations. 

Pending his sentencing, the Department of Corrections placed Stoner at a 

halfway house — the Parkview Center. The Parkview Center was owned and operated 

by a private company, under contract with the Department of Corrections. 

About a week after Stoner was transferred to the Parkview Center, the staff 

discovered a mobile phone and a telephone card hidden under his mattress. This was a 

violation of the Center’s rules, and Stoner knew that he would be sent back to jail. So 

instead, Stoner fled. 

Stoner was apprehended about three months later, and he was charged with 

second-degree escape under AS 11.56.310(a)(1)(B). This statute makes it a class B 

felony to unlawfully “remove[] oneself from ... official detention for a felony”. 

Stoner asked the superior court to dismiss this felony charge on the ground 

that the Parkview staff misled him as to the seriousness of the crime he would commit 

if he absconded from the Parkview Center. 

Stoner’s argument was based on the fact that, during his orientation session 

at the Parkview Center, he was given a 52-page residents’ handbook. One passage in 

this handbook warned Parkview Center residents that they were not allowed to leave the 

Center without authorization. The handbook then mistakenly stated that residents who 

were in custody for a felony would be charged with “unlawful evasion” under 

AS 11.56.340 if they left the halfway house without permission. 

In fact, AS 11.56.340 does not apply to felony prisoners who abscond from 

a halfway house. Instead, this statute applies to misdemeanor prisoners — persons 

– 3 – 2584
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“charged with or convicted of a misdemeanor” — who fail to return to official detention 

after they have been granted a “temporary leave ... for a specific purpose or [for a] 

limited period”. 

The statute that applies to Stoner’s situation is the second-degree escape 

statute under which he was indicted, AS 11.56.310(a)(1)(B). 

But in Stoner’s motion to dismiss, he asserted that he had relied on the 

mistaken information in the Parkview handbook when he made his decision to abscond 

— i.e., the handbook’s mistaken description of the crime as “unlawful evasion”. 

The Parkview handbook did not say that this offense was a misdemeanor. 

In fact, the handbook did not make any assertion as to what level of offense “unlawful 

evasion” was. However, Stoner asserted that he already knew, based on his prior 

experience in the criminal justice system, and based on his conversations with other 

Parkview inmates, that the crime of “unlawful evasion” was a misdemeanor. 1 

Stoner claimed that he decided to abscond from the Parkview Center 

because he weighed the risk of spending up to one additional year in jail, and he 

concluded that it was worth it. He asserted that he would not have absconded if he had 

known that he could be prosecuted for a felony. 

The superior court accepted Stoner’s factualassertions as true, but the court 

nevertheless denied Stoner’s motion to dismiss the indictment. The court concluded that 

even if Stoner mistakenly believed that he was committing a misdemeanor rather than 

a felony, this did not entitle Stoner to dismissal of the felony escape charge. 

Following a jury trial, Stoner was convicted of second-degree escape. He 

now appeals that conviction, renewing his argument that the felony charge should have 

AS 11.56.340(b). 

– 4 – 2584
 

1 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

been dismissed because of the mistaken information in the Parkview Center’s residents’ 

handbook. 

Our analysis of Stoner’s claim 

In his briefs to this Court, Stoner argues that it violates the constitutional 

guarantee of due process for the State to prosecute and convict him of felony escape, 

when he mistakenly believed that his act of absconding from the halfway house was only 

a misdemeanor. But Stoner’s claim is contrary to an established doctrine of criminal law. 

It is a general principle of the criminal law that a person’s ignorance of a 

criminal statute, or a person’s misunderstanding of a criminal statute, is not a defense to 

a prosecution under that statute. This principle is codified in AS 11.81.620(a): 

Effect of ignorance or mistake upon liability. 

(a) Knowledge, recklessness, or criminal negligence 

as to whether conduct constitutes an offense, or knowledge, 

recklessness, or criminal negligence as to the existence, 

meaning, or application of the provision of law defining an 

offense, is not an element of an offense unless the provision 

of law clearly so provides. Use of the phrase “intent to 

commit a crime”, “intent to promote or facilitate the 

commission of a crime”, or like terminology in a provision of 

law does not require that the defendant act with a culpable 

mental state as to the criminality of the conduct that is the 

object of the defendant’s intent. 

Based on due process concerns, the Alaska appellate courts have recognized 

a limited exception to this principle in situations where a person acts in reasonable 

reliance on an official pronouncement or a formal interpretation of the law issued by the 

chief enforcement officer or agency entrusted with the enforcement of that law. Stevens 

– 5 – 2584
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

v. State, 135 P.3d 688, 695 (Alaska App. 2006); Ostrosky v. State, 704 P.2d 786, 791 

(Alaska App. 1985). 2 

But this limited “mistake of law” defense is not available to people who rely 

on a mistaken statement or interpretation of the law received from a police officer or 

other subordinate officer. Morgan v. State, 943 P.2d 1208, 1212 (Alaska App. 1997); 

Haggren v. State, 829 P.2d 842, 844 (Alaska App. 1992). 

And, of course, this defense is not available to people who form their own 

mistaken opinion about the law. Stevens, 135 P.3d at 695; Busby v. State, 40 P.3d 807, 

816-17 (Alaska App. 2002). 

In the present case, Stoner claims that his decision to abscond from the 

halfway house was prompted, at least in part, by his mistaken belief that his potential 

punishment for this crime would not exceed one year in prison (the maximum sentence 

for a class A misdemeanor). 

But Stoner does not contend that the Parkview staff told him that his act of 

absconding would be a misdemeanor, or that the Parkview handbook stated that his act 

of absconding would be a misdemeanor. Rather, Stoner asserts that (1) the halfway 

house handbook erroneously described the name of his crime as “unlawful evasion”, and 

(2) Stoner relied on his own personal knowledge (based on his prior experience in the 

criminal justice system, as well as conversations he had with other offenders) that the 

crime of unlawful evasion was a misdemeanor. 

Given these circumstances, Stoner’s claim amounts to the assertion that he 

falsely concluded, based on inferences he personally drew, that his act of absconding 

See also Morgan v. State, 943 P.2d 1208, 1212 (Alaska App.1997);Haggren v.State, 

829 P.2d 842, 844 (Alaska App. 1992). 

– 6 – 2584
 

2 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

would be a misdemeanor. Thus, Stoner’s claim is foreclosed by the decisions in Stevens, 

Busby, Morgan, and Haggren. 

In his briefs to this Court, Stoner does not directly address these decisions 

or this underlying doctrine of criminal law. Rather, to support his claim that he could not 

be prosecuted for felony escape, Stoner relies primarily on the Alaska Supreme Court’s 

decision in Olson v. State, 260 P.3d 1056 (Alaska 2011). 

Olson involved a motorist who was arrested on suspicion of driving under 

the influence, and who refused to take a breath test. 3 Under the pertinent statute, when 

an arrested motorist indicates that they will not take a breath test, the police must advise 

the motorist that failure to take the test is a separate crime. 4 

In Olson’s case, the police officer informed him that failure to take the test 

would be a crime — but the officer then went beyond this legal duty, by telling Olson 

that his act of refusing the breath test could be either a felony or a misdemeanor, 

depending on Olson’s prior DUI record. Then the officer misdescribed what kind of 

prior record would lead to a felony charge. Based on the officer’s erroneous description 

of the law, Olson could reasonably have concluded that his refusal to take the breath test 

would only be a misdemeanor, when in fact his refusal would be a felony. 5 

Olson ultimately refused to take the breath test, and he was indicted for 

felony breath-test refusal. Olson argued that he was denied due process of law because 

he was forced to choose whether to take the breath test after he received the police 

3 Olson, 260 P.3d at 1058.
 

4 AS 28.35.032(a).
 

5 Olson, 260 P.3d at 1058-59.
 

– 7 – 2584
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

officer’s erroneous description of the law — a description which misleadingly informed 

Olson that he would face only a misdemeanor penalty for refusing. 6 

The supreme court agreed that Olson had been denied due process of law 

in this situation: 

[D]ue process concerns can arise if the information 

[given to an arrested motorist] understates the consequences 

of the offense. Misinformation can impair an arrestee’s 

ability to make an informed decision about [the] potential 

consequences flowing from his refusal, and may actually 

discourage the arrestee from taking the test. The decision ... 

whether to comply with an arresting officer’s request to take 

a sobriety test is not a simple one, and ... it should not be 

based on an ignorance of the actual consequences of refusing. 

Here, the [officer’s warning] understated the penalties for 

Olson’s refusal. We conclude it would be fundamentally 

unfair to allow the State to [inform an arrestee of] one 

penalty, on which the arrestee’s decision relies, and then later 

convict him of a charge that carries a greater penalty. 

Olson, 260 P.3d at 1061 (internal quotations and footnotes omitted). 

It is unclear to what extent the decision in Olson may have overturned or 

limited the series of Alaska cases holding that a defendant can only claim “mistake of 

law” when the defendant’s mistaken belief about the law is based on an official 

pronouncement or a formal interpretation of the law issued by the chief enforcement 

officer or agency entrusted with the enforcement of that law. 

But in any event, Olson involved a direct misstatement of law by a police 

officer who was holding the defendant in custody, and who was demanding that the 

Id. at 1059-1060. 

– 8 – 2584
 

6 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

defendant make an immediate choice between (1) supplying the government with 

potentially incriminating evidence or (2) committing a new crime. 

Here, Stoner is claiming that he reached an erroneous conclusion about the 

law of escape, not based on the direct statement of a police official, but rather based on 

the combination of (1) a misstatement in a handbook written by a contractor working for 

the Department of Corrections and (2) Stoner’s own personal understanding of the law. 

Moreover, no state officer demanded that Stoner immediately choose 

between absconding from the halfway house or staying in custody to await his 

sentencing hearing. 

For these reasons, we conclude that the Alaska Supreme Court’s decision 

in Olson does not apply to Stoner’s situation. 

Conclusion 

The judgement of the superior court is AFFIRMED. 

– 9 – 2584