Court Opinion

ID: 9697976
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 19:38:34.928598+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:20:37.495557
License: Public Domain

CASTILLE, Justice,
concurring.
I join in the majority opinion. The issue concerning just when an everyday object becomes an instrument of crime has been debated within the courts of this Commonwealth for years. The majority correctly concludes that there must be evidence produced of a sufficient level to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a baseball bat is “commonly used” for criminal purposes and is possessed under “circumstances not manifestly appropriate for lawful uses it may have.” 18 Pa.C.S. § 907(c)(2).
At some period of time in the future sufficient proof may exist to lead a court to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt *298that a baseball bat is “commonly used” to commit crimes. However, until that time, baseball bats will continue to be used to commit assaults and cause injury and death with the wielder of the bat receiving no further punishmgnt such as would be possible if the perpetrator used a knife or a firearm to cause equivalent injury or death.
This apparent inequity could be readily addressed simply by the General Assembly’s rewriting of § 907(c)(2) to eliminate the word “commonly” as in “commonly used.” If the General Assembly chose to pursue such a task, the statute in question would then effectuate the original intent of the statute defining criminal instruments: to establish a separate and distinct crime for any person who possesses and uses ordinary items for criminal purposes under circumstances not manifestly appropriate for lawful uses that the item may have. If so rewritten, then the prosaic baseball bat of youth would be elevated to an instrument of crime when it is used for hitting persons instead of baseballs. However, until such point in time that the statute is rewritten, or sufficient evidence is produced at trial to demonstrate beyond a reasonable doubt that baseball bats are “commonly used” for criminal purposes, a defendant will not be subject to separate punishment where he or she chooses a baseball bat as the weapon to inflict physical harm rather than a firearm or other deadly weapon.