Court Opinion

ID: 9790745
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 01:59:00.97294+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:37:31.344242
License: Public Domain

Alexander, J.
(dissenting) — Although I agree with the majority that RCW 9.41.250 passes constitutional muster, *818I disagree with its conclusion that the evidence produced at trial was sufficient to support Dalona Myles’s conviction. I, therefore, dissent.
The version of RCW 9.41.250 with which we are here concerned makes it a crime to "furtively carry with intent to conceal any . . . dangerous weapon[.]” The majority concludes that the trial court did not err in finding that Myles furtively carried a dangerous weapon, a small paring knife, with intent to conceal. In my judgment, this conclusion is flawed because the evidence that the majority points to as support for this finding is that the knife was "carried in an inner pocket, an unusual and suspicious place to carry a knife.” (Majority at 817.) This evidence does not support the trial court’s finding.
The majority’s conclusion is particularly troubling because it is tantamount to holding that any knife that is carried in an inner pocket is being carried furtively. The holding does not accord the term "furtively” its ordinary meaning, which even the majority concedes means "done by stealth,” "secret,” "sneaky,” "sly,” or "surreptitious.” Webster’s Third New International Dictionary 924 (3d ed. 1986). Unfortunately, the majority’s holding renders the term "furtively” mere surplusage, and ignores the maxim that, whenever possible, every word of a statute should be given effect. Klein v. Pyrodyne Corp., 117 Wn.2d 1, 13, 810 P.2d 917, 817 P.2d 1359 (1991).
Although I recognize that there is evidence that Myles was carrying the paring knife with intent to conceal it, there is simply no evidence that she was carrying it in a furtive matter. Myles was not carrying the knife in a sneaky or stealthy way. Rather, she was carrying it in her pocket, which I believe is a usual and ordinary place for one to carry items of any sort.
The majority opinion casts a very large net for the statute in question. It follows from the opinion, seemingly, that anyone with a pocket knife in a purse or pocket runs afoul of the statute. Such a result makes no sense and is contrary to what appears to me to be the Legislature’s *819intent to punish the sneaky or stealthy carrying of dangerous weapons.
The Legislature, presumably for good reasons, chose to make it a crime to carry a dangerous weapon "furtively” with intent to conceal. It did not choose to make it a crime to merely carry a concealed dangerous weapon. Had the Legislature intended to make it a crime to simply carry a concealed knife, it would not have added the term "furtively” to the statute. It did so and we cannot ignore the presence of that word which modifies "carry.”
Although we have not been presented with any legislative history that sheds light on why the Legislature added the word "furtively” to the statute, it is reasonable to assume that it added it in an effort to make it a crime to carry knives in a sneaky manner — places where one would ordinarily not carry a knife. For example, carrying a knife in one’s boot, up one’s sleeve, down one’s back or in the shaft of an umbrella or cane are all examples of carrying a dangerous weapon furtively. We do not have such conduct here.
Finally, I feel constrained to respond to what the majority describes as evidence "in addition” to the evidence of concealment, i.e., that Myles was a sixteen-year-old on the streets of Seattle at 1:00 a.m. in an "inhospitable situation.” (Majority at 817.) That the majority saw fit to mention these facts underscores the paucity of evidence supporting the trial court’s finding. None of the so-called additional evidence has any relevance on the question of whether Myles was "furtively” carrying the paring knife. While this sixteen-year-old young woman, perhaps, should not have been on the streets of Seattle late at night, she was not charged here with a curfew violation or with being in an inhospitable environment. She was charged with furtively carrying a dangerous weapon with intent to conceal it and there simply was no evidence to support the finding that she was doing so. I would affirm the Court of Appeals.
*820Johnson and Pekelis, JJ., concur with Alexander, J.