Donlun v. State

In Donlun v. State, 527 P.2d 472 (Alaska 1974), the defendant was charged with "burglary in a dwelling house" under Alaska's pre-1980 criminal code. The statute at issue, former AS 11.20.080 (quoted in its entirety in Donlun, 527 P.2d at 473 n. 2), declared that the normal sentence for this felony was imprisonment "for not less than one nor more than 10 years". However, the statute then declared that if the burglary was committed at nighttime, the maximum punishment was imprisonment for 15 years; and if any person was inside the dwelling during the burglary (whether during the day or at night), the maximum punishment was imprisonment for 20 years.