Opinion ID: 2322362
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: PPW(b)

Text: The PPW (b) statute states that [n]o person shall within the District of Columbia possess, with intent to use unlawfully against another, an imitation pistol, or a dagger, dirk, razor, stiletto, or knife with a blade longer than 3 inches, or other dangerous weapon. D.C.Code § 22-4514(b). To prove PPW (b), the government had to establish (1) that the accused possessed a proscribed article, and (2) that he possessed it with the intent to use it unlawfully against another. Reid, 581 A.2d at 362 (quotation marks omitted). Because the blade of M.L.'s knife measured just short of three inches, it was not dangerous per se under the PPW (b) statute and the government had to prove, as for CDW, that M.L.'s knife is one which is likely to produce death or great bodily injury by the use made of it. Dorsey v. United States, 902 A.2d 107, 111 (D.C.2006) (quotation marks omitted). As established in our discussion of the CDW conviction, we agree with the trial court that M.L.'s knife was capable of producing death or great bodily injury. In addition to proving that the knife is a dangerous weapon, for a PPW (b) conviction the government must prove that the defendant `possessed [the dangerous weapon] with the intent to use it unlawfully against another.' Reid, 581 A.2d at 362 (quoting United States v. Brooks, 330 A.2d 245, 246-47 (D.C.1974) (footnote omitted)). A PPW (b) charge does not require evidence of an attempt to do harm. Jones v. United States, 401 A.2d 473, 475-76 (D.C.1979). The same evidence that proved that M.L. carried the weapon for the purpose of using it as a dangerous weapon supports the trial court's permissible inference that he possessed the knife with the intent to use it unlawfully against another. As discussed above, the facts that M.L. was crouching behind a parked car at night, wearing gloves, with an open folding knife in his pocket, and fled from Officer Wade, support no other inference. We therefore reject M.L.'s argument that the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction for PPW (b).