Opinion ID: 2446427
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Felony Criminal Threatening

Text: The defendant next contends that the indictment did not sufficiently allege felony criminal threatening because it did not state that he used, intended to use, or threatened to use the gun in a manner that is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury. RSA 625:11, V (2007). Therefore, according to the defendant, it only alleged misdemeanor criminal threatening. He also asserts that the evidence was insufficient to prove that he committed felony criminal threatening. We address each argument in turn. An indictment . . . is sufficient if it sets forth the offense fully, plainly, substantially and formally. . . . RSA 601:4 (2001). To be sufficient to charge the variant of felony criminal threatening involved here, the indictment must have set out the following elements: that by physical conduct, the defendant purposely place[d] or attempt[ed] to place another in fear of imminent bodily injury or physical contact, while using a deadly weapon. RSA 631:4, I(a), II(a)(2). A deadly weapon is any firearm, knife or other substance or thing which, in the manner it is used, intended to be used, or threatened to be used, is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury. RSA 625:11, V; Kousounadis, 159 N.H. at 425, 986 A.2d 603. Here, the indictment alleged that the defendant: did commit the crime of criminal threatening in that by his physical conduct he purposely attempted to place Christine Harris in fear of imminent bodily injury or physical contact by waving [a] forty-five caliber handgun, a firearm and deadly weapon pursuant to RSA 625:11, V at Christine Harris while telling Christine Harris to get off of his property. The indictment sufficiently alleged that the defendant threatened to use a deadly weapon in a manner that is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury. RSA 625:11, V; Kousounadis, 159 N.H. at 425, 986 A.2d 603. It stated that the defendant wav[ed] a forty-five caliber handgun, a firearm and deadly weapon pursuant to RSA 625:11 at Harris while telling . . . Harris to get off of his property. Cf. State v. Deutscher, 225 Kan. 265, 589 P.2d 620, 625 (1979) (stating that an unloaded revolver which is pointed in such a manner as to communicate to the person threatened an apparent ability to fire a shot and thus do bodily harm is a deadly weapon within the meaning expressed by the legislature in the assault statutes). Implicit in these allegations is a threat to use the gun. Accordingly, the indictment sufficiently alleged each of the elements of felony criminal threatening. See RSA 631:4, I(a), II(a)(2). We next address whether the evidence was sufficient to support a conviction for felony criminal threatening. To prevail on a claim of insufficiency of the evidence, the defendant must prove that no rational trier of fact, viewing all of the evidence and all reasonable inferences from it in the light most favorable to the State, could have found guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. Cunningham, 159 N.H. at 107, 977 A.2d 506. Considering the evidence and all inferences to be drawn from it in the light most favorable to the State, a rational juror readily could have found that the defendant's actions of waving and pointing a gun toward the victim, while yelling get the F off my property[,] constituted felony criminal threatening. Cf. People v. Daniels, 18 Cal.App.4th 1046, 22 Cal.Rptr.2d 877, 879 (1993) (stating that evidence that defendant pointed a gun at a group of people in a living room and told them to lay down was sufficient to support an inference that the defendant's conduct was a conditional threat constituting an assault); King v. State, 790 S.W.2d 678, 680-81 (Tex.App.1989).