Court Opinion

ID: 9808157
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:29:17.888878+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:09:30.601857
License: Public Domain

SANDSTROM, Justice,
concurring specially.
[¶ 40] Although different magistrates and justices may look at the evidence differently, deference is given to factual inferences drawn by, finders of fact. I offer my thoughts on some points of contention.
[¶ 41] The defendant and the victim were going through a divorce. The victim recognized the knife being used in the attack: “The victim stated the knife was identical to a set of knives he and his wife had, which were no longer in the marital residence, but rather in his wife’s possession.” (Emphasis added.) The victim described the attacker as “having a pony-tail, the same stature as his wife.”
[¶ 42] The defendant relies on the definition in the online version of Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary 1220 (11th ed.2005) to say that stature means only height, and then to argue, in essence, that “height is not enough.” Some may be surprised to read that stature means only height. Other dictionaries say that it can mean more. In Webster’s New World Dictionary 1392 (2nd College ed.1980), stature is defined as “height or size of body.” The Random House Dictionary of the English Language 1862 (2nd ed.1987) includes in its definition of stature “degree of development attained.” Thesaurus.com includes “size” as a synonym for “stature.” Thesaurus. com, http://www.thesaurus.com/ browse/stature?s=t (last visited June 10, 2015).
[¶ 43] I view the evidence as stronger than others, and there were reasonable grounds — probable cause — to justify a warrant. I agree we affirm.
[¶ 44] DALE V. SANDSTROM