Minnesota Supreme Court - Knife in School

[James Mattis]

Here's the thread in the General forum, reporting the overturning of a kid's felony conviction for zero tolerance-knives.

And here's the court case:

In re the Welfare of C.R.M., child

The case has a lengthy discussion of the meanings of "know" and "intend" and the propriety of "strict liability" statutes.

A couple of interesting footnotes in the case...

Footnote [3] indicates that the minor in question had a school record that included assault and battery.

Footnote [13] quotes the Minnesota statute that defines a "dangerous weapon" that one should not bring to a school:

any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded, or any device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm, any combustible or flammable liquid or other device or instrumentality that, in the manner it is used or intended to be used, is calculated or likely to produce death or great bodily harm, or any fire that is used to produce death or great bodily harm. [my emphasis]

My quick reading of that is that if the knife is normally marketed as a "fighting knife," or the owner said he carried a utility knife "for protection," or if he brandished the utility knife in a heated argument, it would be a "dangerous weapon."



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- JKM
www.chaicutlery.com
AKTI Member # SA00001