US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

      21-3203.   Ignorance or mistake. (1) A person's ignorance or mistake as to a matter of either fact or law, except as provided in section 21-3202, is a defense if it negatives the existence of the mental state which the statute prescribes with respect to an element of the crime.

      (2)   A person's reasonable belief that his conduct does not constitute a crime is a defense if:

      (a)   The crime is defined by an administrative regulation or order which is not known to him and has not been published in the Kansas administrative regulations or an annual supplement thereto, as provided by law; and he could not have acquired such knowledge by the exercise of due diligence pursuant to facts known to him; or

      (b)   He acts in reliance upon a statute which later is determined to be invalid; or

      (c)   He acts in reliance upon an order or opinion of the supreme court of Kansas or a United States appellate court later overruled or reversed;

      (d)   He acts in reliance upon an official interpretation of the statute, regulation or order defining the crime made by a public officer or agency legally authorized to interpret such statute.

      (3)   Although a person's ignorance or mistake of fact or law, or reasonable belief, as described in subsection (2) of this section, is a defense to the crime charged, he may be convicted of an included crime of which he would be guilty if the fact or law were as he believed it to be.

      History:   L. 1969, ch. 180, § 21-3203; July 1, 1970.