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Legal Information: Alaska

Statutes: Alaska

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Updated: 
August 8, 2023

Sec. 11.46.482. Criminal mischief in the third degree

(a) A person commits the crime of criminal mischief in the third degree if, having no right to do so or any reasonable ground to believe the person has such a right,

(1) with intent to damage property of another, the person damages property of another in an amount of $750 or more;

(2) the person recklessly creates a risk of damage in an amount exceeding $100,000 to property of another by the use of widely dangerous means; or

(3) the person knowingly

(A) defaces, damages, or desecrates a cemetery or the contents of a cemetery or a tomb, grave, or memorial regardless of whether the tomb, grave, or memorial is in a cemetery or whether the cemetery, tomb, grave, or memorial appears to be abandoned, lost, or neglected;

(B) removes human remains or associated burial artifacts from a cemetery, tomb, grave, or memorial regardless of whether the cemetery, tomb, grave, or memorial appears to be abandoned, lost, or neglected.

(b) It is an affirmative defense to a prosecution under (a)(3) of this section that the defendant, at the time of the offense, was

(1) an employee of the cemetery and was engaged in an authorized activity on behalf of the cemetery; or

(2) authorized by law or state permit to engage in the conduct.

(c) In this section,

(1) “contents of a cemetery” includes anything that is designed or used for the protection, security, or ornamentation of a cemetery and that is located within a cemetery;

(2) “memorial” means a headstone, marker, gravestone, monument, or other object designed or intended to mark a gravesite or to memorialize the death of a person;

(3) “tomb” means a mausoleum, columbarium, or crypt, whether that mausoleum, columbarium, or crypt is located above or below ground.

(d) Criminal mischief in the third degree is a class C felony.