Court Opinion

ID: 9796819
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 04:06:06.501086+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:50:43.172953
License: Public Domain

FRANCHINI, Justice, (specially concurring). {28} I concur in the result but write specially because, unlike the majority, I do not believe the jury instructions were erroneous. Section 30-l-12(B) includes “bludgeons” among its list of objects that are “deadly weapons” as a matter of law. A bludgeon is defined as “[a] short, heavy club or weapon, with one end loaded, or thicker and heavier than the other.” New Webster’s Dictionary (1981). Thus, when used as a weapon, a baseball bat is a bludgeon by definition. By instructing the jury to determine whether Defendant “hit” the victim with a baseball bat with the intent to injure her, the trial court effectively instructed them to determine whether the baseball bat was used as a weapon. I believe that the difference between this instruction and one that would have asked the jury to determine whether the baseball bat was a “deadly weapon” is a matter of semantics and does not amount to error. I would affirm Defendant’s conviction on that basis. I CONCUR: PAMELA B. MINZNER, Justice.