Opinion ID: 2969190
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Copeland and Perez

Text: Plaintiffs John Copeland and Pedro Perez are, respectively, an artist and an art dealer. Both had routinely carried folding knives for use in their work until 2010 when such knife possession resulted in each man separately being charged with violating § 265.01(1). Perez was so charged on April 15, 2010, when New York City police officers observed him at a Manhattan subway station with a metal clip protruding from his pocket. Inquiry revealed the clip to be part of a Gerber brand common folding knife that Perez had purchased approximately two years earlier at Tent & Trail, an outdoor supply store in Manhattan. Plaintiffs assert that the charging officers were unable themselves to flick open Perez’s knife, but based on the possibility that someone could do so, they issued Perez a desk appearance ticket charging him with unlawful possession of a gravity knife. Some months later, on October 10, 2010, Copeland was similarly charged when police, observing a metal clip in his pocket, found him in possession of a Benchmade brand common folding knife, purchased the year before at Paragon 7 Sports in Manhattan. Plaintiffs assert that on two occasions before October 2010, Copeland had shown his Benchmade knife to New York City police officers and inquired as to the legality of its possession. On both occasions, the officers were unable to flick open the knife and so returned it to Copeland, advising that its possession was legal. By contrast, the officers who stopped Copeland in October 2010 were able to open the knife by “grasping the knife’s handle and forcefully ‘flicking’ the knife body downwards” and, thus, issued Copeland a desk appearance ticket for violating § 265.01(1). Am. Compl. ¶ 30. Perez and Copeland each retained counsel to defend the § 265.01(1) charges by disputing that the devices in their possession were proscribed gravity knives. The question was never resolved because, in both cases, the parties agreed to adjournments in contemplation of dismissal, a non‐merits disposition. See N.Y. Crim. Proc. Law § 170.55(2); Hollender v. Trump Vill. Coop., Inc., 58 N.Y.2d 420, 423, 461 N.Y.S.2d 765, 766 (1983) (explaining that adjournment in contemplation of dismissal is “neither a conviction nor an acquittal”). In this action, Perez and Copeland assert their continuing interest in carrying common folding knives in New York City but maintain that they do not 8 do so for fear of again being charged with a § 265.01(1) violation, given their inability to determine which common folding knives defendants might deem prohibited by that law.