Opinion ID: 2162363
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Deadly Weapon Definition Illustrative List and Use Test

Text: To determine whether the Superior Court's amendment of the deadly weapon count in the indictment returned against Johnson by the grand jury was a change in form or substance, we begin with an examination of the relevant legislative history. Statutory prohibitions concerning the possession of a deadly weapon were provided for in the Delaware Criminal Code upon its adoption in 1973, and in the statutes that preceded the Code. [47] Although specific violations varied, all of the deadly weapon offenses set forth in the 1973 Code incorporated the definition of deadly weapon contained in 11 Del. C. § 222(5). [48] In 1973, Section 222(5) provided: Deadly weapon includes any weapon from which a shot may be discharged, a knife of any sort (other than an ordinary pocket knife carried in a closed position), switchblade knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, metal knuckles, slingshot, razor, bicycle chain or ice pick. [49] That definition was later amended to add the following sentence: For the purpose of this definition, an ordinary pocketknife shall be a folding knife having a blade not more than three (3) inches in length. [50] The term includes in Section 222(5) signifies the General Assembly's intention that the definition of deadly weapon in Section 222(5) is not limited to the meaning given, but in appropriate cases the word or term may be defined in any way not inconsistent with the definition given. [51] Accordingly, this Court has held that the list of specific items identified as deadly weapons in Section 222(5) is illustrative, rather than exhaustive. [52] In Pauls, for example, this Court determined that a broken bottle, with its ragged, jagged, sharp cutting edges, is clearly capable of causing death, and hence qualified as a deadly weapon. [53] The General Assembly amended Section 222(5) again in 1992. This amendment added to the specific items designated as deadly weapons a generic classification of any dangerous instrument, as defined in subsection (4) of this section which is used, or attempted to be used, to cause death or serious physical injury. [54] The statutory definition of deadly weapon in its present form, now renumbered as Section 222(6), reads as follows: Deadly weapon includes a firearm, as defined in subdivision (10) of this section, a bomb, a knife of any sort (other than an ordinary pocketknife carried in a closed position), switchblade knife, billy, blackjack, bludgeon, metal knuckles, slingshot, razor, bicycle chain or ice pick or any dangerous instrument, as defined in subdivision (5) of this section, which is used, or attempted to be used, to cause death or serious physical injury. For the purpose of this definition, an ordinary pocketknife shall be a folding knife having a blade not more than 3 inches in length. [55] Thus, the definition of deadly weapon in the Delaware Criminal Code is no longer limited to an item's common or intended usage. [56] As a result of the 1992 use test amendment to Section 222(6), the definition of deadly weapons is now expansive. The use test makes ordinary items, that otherwise serve a legitimate function in daily life, deadly weapons if, under the circumstances of their use, they had the potential for the infliction of death or serious physical injury. Accordingly, in construing Section 222(6), as amended in 1992, this Court has concluded that the use of an electronic floor fan to seriously assault someone constituted Possession of a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony. [57] The 1992 amendment explains how Johnson could be indicted by the grand jury for Possessing a Deadly Weapon During the Commission of a Felony by assaulting Woodward with a chair.