Court Opinion

ID: 9704448
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 00:36:18.388759+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:22:02.515176
License: Public Domain

Dalianis, J.,
dissenting. I would affirm the conviction of the defendant because, unlike the majority, I believe that the bow and arrow that he used to kill a porcupine is a deadly weapon. See RSA 159:3,1 (2002); RSA 625:11, V (2007). To my mind, a bow and arrow that has killed an animal has been used in a manner in which it is “known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury” to a human being. RSA 625:11, V. Had a human being been in the porcupine’s place, the human being would at least have suffered a serious bodily injury. The defendant, therefore, used the bow and arrow in a manner that is known to be capable of seriously injuring or killing a human being.
A deadly weapon as defined in RSA 625:11, V 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.” “The critical phrase is ‘the manner [in which an object] is used, intended to be used, or threatened to be used, [it] is known to be capable of producing death or serious bodily injury.’ ” State v. Hull, 149 N.H. 706, 714 (2003). An innocuous object can become a deadly weapon when it is used to assault someone. Id.; see State v. Kiluk, 120 N.H. 1, 5 (1980) (dinner fork is deadly weapon when used to stab someone in eye). To be a deadly weapon, the object need not be “intrinsically capable of causing death or injury.” Hull, 149 N.H. at 715. Nor does it have to actually cause injury. Id. Rather, whether it has been used, intended to be used or threatened to be used in a manner that is known to be capable of killing or causing serious bodily injury to someone “must be evaluated in light of what did happen rather than the conjecture about what might have happened if the facts had been different than they were.” Id. (quotation omitted).
*51While I agree with the majority that to be a deadly weapon the object must have been used, threatened to be used, or intended to be used in such a manner that is known to be capable of killing or seriously injuring a human, I believe that the bow and arrow in this case meets this definition.
Here, the defendant used his bow and arrow to kill a porcupine. Using it in this manner — to kill a living thing — is a use that is known to be capable of killing or causing serious bodily injury to a person. A mouse trap would not be a deadly weapon because, even if it were used to kill a mouse, the manner in which it was used to do this is not known to be capable of killing or causing serious bodily injury to a human. A human would not be killed or seriously injured by a mouse trap in the same way that a mouse would be. By contrast, a human would be killed or seriously injured by a bow and arrow in the exact same way that the porcupine in this case was killed.
Given my interpretation of RSA 625:11, V, I believe that a rational trier of fact, viewing all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, could have found beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant possessed a deadly weapon. A rational trier of fact could have concluded that the manner in which the defendant used the bow and arrow — to kill a porcupine — is known to be capable of causing the death of, or serious bodily injury to, a human. For these reasons, therefore, I would affirm the defendant’s conviction.