Opinion ID: 1210547
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Use of the knife as a deadly weapon.

Text: Thomas argues that the meat-carving knife used in the murder and kidnapping was not a deadly weapon under the inherently dangerous test articulated in Zgombic v. State, 106 Nev. 571, 798 P.2d 548 (1990). Inherently dangerous means that the instrumentality itself, if used in the ordinary manner contemplated by its design and construction, will, or is likely to, cause a life-threatening injury or death. Id. at 576-77, 798 P.2d at 551; see also NRS 193.165(5)(a). [4] Here, the knife Thomas used to kidnap Dixon and kill both Dixon and Gianakis was a meat-carving knife with a five-to seven-inch blade. It is an inherently dangerous weapon due to the length of the blade and the sharpness required to carve meat. See Steese v. State, 114 Nev. 479, 499, 960 P.2d 321, 334 (1998) (a butcher knife with a five-to seven-inch blade used to carve meat is a deadly weapon as a matter of law under the inherently dangerous test). Accordingly, the knife used was a deadly weapon and could properly be used to enhance Thomas' conviction for murder and kidnapping.