State v. NICK R.

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO

Opinion Number: 2009-NMSC-050

Filing Date: September 28, 2009

Docket No. 30,657

STATE OF NEW MEXICO,

Plaintiff-Respondent,

v.

NICK R., a child,

Defendant-Petitioner.

ORIGINAL PROCEEDING ON CERTIORARI

Sam B. Sanchez, District Judge

Hugh W. Dangler, Chief Public Defender

Nancy M. Hewitt, Appellate Defender

J.K. Theodosia Johnson, Assistant Public Defender

Santa Fe, NM

for Petitioner

Gary King, Attorney General

Andrew S. Montgomery, Assistant Attorney General

Santa Fe, NM

for Respondent

OPINION

DANIELS, Justice.

{1} Petitioner Nick R., a sixteen-year-old student at Taos High School, was charged in

Children’s Court with possessing a deadly weapon on school premises, in violation of

NMSA 1978, Section 30-7-2.1 (1994). The issue before us is whether the Legislature

intended to make an ordinary pocketknife a per se deadly weapon in the Criminal Code’s

statutory definitions, without regard to either its actual use or a person’s purpose for carrying

it, and thereby preclude any right to a jury determination of its status as a deadly weapon in

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the circumstances of a particular case.

{2} Although Section 30-7-2.1 does not refer to a pocketknife or define the term “deadly

weapon” in any other way, NMSA 1978, Section 30-1-12(B) (1963) provides that, “[a]s used

in the Criminal Code”:

“deadly weapon” means any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded; or any

weapon which is capable of producing death or great bodily harm, including

but not restricted to any types of daggers, brass knuckles, switchblade knives,

bowie knives, poniards, butcher knives, dirk knives and all such weapons

with which dangerous cuts can be given, or with which dangerous thrusts can

be inflicted, including swordcanes, and any kind of sharp pointed canes, also

slingshots, slung shots, bludgeons; or any other weapons with which

dangerous wounds can be inflicted[.]

{3} The Court of Appeals affirmed rulings of the Children’s Court that Petitioner was not

entitled to have a jury decide whether he had the intent to possess a pocketknife as a weapon.

State v. Nick R., No. 27,145, slip op. at 2 (N.M. Ct. App. Aug. 30, 2007). Our review of the

definitional statute’s language, its history, its purposes, its relationship with other statutes,

and over one hundred years of New Mexico case law leads us to the opposite conclusion.

We therefore reverse the contrary rulings of the lower courts.

I. FACTS AND PROCEEDINGS BELOW

{4} The relevant facts were stipulated by the parties. Petitioner Nick R. worked after

school hours for his father at a furniture store. His father supplied all store employees,

including Nick, with pocketknives for opening boxes at work. One day in his math class,

Nick felt something in his pocket and pulled it out to look at it. It was the pocketknife he

had been using at work the evening before when he had been wearing the same pair of pants.

His math teacher spotted him “messing around” with the unopened pocketknife underneath

his school desk, confiscated it, and turned it over to school authorities. Nothing in the record

indicates that the pocketknife was ever used or intended to be used as a weapon.

{5} Nick was suspended from school pending an administrative investigation, but he was

reinstated after the superintendent of schools determined that he had not intentionally

brought the pocketknife onto campus. Three months later, the State filed a delinquency

petition in Children’s Court, charging that Nick had committed a delinquent act under the

Children’s Code, on the theory that he had committed an offense that would have been a

fourth-degree felony if committed by an adult.

{6} Before trial, the State filed two motions in limine relevant to this appeal, both of

which were heard as preliminary matters on the day the parties appeared for the scheduled

jury trial. The first, “State’s Motion in Limine for Legal Determination that the Knife Is a

Deadly Weapon,” included as an exhibit a photograph of the pocketknife taken from Nick.

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The motion sought to have the court rule as a matter of law that the depicted item fit the

statutory definition of “deadly weapon” under Section 30-1-12(B) and rule that the jury

could not be allowed to make that determination. In granting the motion and taking the issue

from the jury, the court rejected defense counsel’s argument that the jury should determine

whether the statutory deadly weapon definition had been met, based on the nature of the

object and its manner of actual or intended use in the circumstances.

{7} A related motion was the “State’s Motion in Limine to Exclude Any Reference to a

Use Requirement,” which argued that not only should the court make a pretrial

determination that the particular pocketknife was per se a deadly weapon under the statute,

but that defense counsel should be prohibited from making any argument to the jury

regarding Nick’s actual or intended use of the pocketknife. In granting the State’s motions,

the Children’s Court judge commented from the bench:

So, it’s not the intended use of the instrument, it’s just the fact that

you have it and you shouldn’t. Simple as that. So, I don’t think the use of

it or the intended use has any bearing in this case. He either had it on him or

carried it on school grounds or he didn’t. I don’t know what else—that’s

what the jury’s got to hear.

They can’t hear that he didn’t intend to use it, he wasn’t going to use

it, because everybody could argue that, whether they intend to or not.

{8} Following the court’s rulings on the motions in limine, defense counsel moved that

the issues be certified for an interlocutory appeal, given the fact that there were no other

triable issues to submit to the jury. The court denied the request. The parties then conferred

and arrived at a conditional plea agreement that preserved Petitioner’s right to appellate

review of the pretrial rulings in limine.

{9} In an unpublished memorandum opinion, the Court of Appeals affirmed the

Children’s Court rulings, holding that simple possession of a pocketknife on school premises

constitutes criminal possession of a deadly weapon as a matter of law, regardless of the

possessor’s actual or intended use. Nick R., No. 27,145, slip op. at 2-3.

{10} The case comes before us on certiorari to review the Court of Appeals’ conclusion

that “[b]ecause Child was carrying a knife, which is defined as a deadly weapon, there is no

requirement that the State show that he intended to use it as a weapon.” Id. at 3.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

{11} Statutory construction is a matter of law we review de novo. State v. Rivera,

2004-NMSC-001, ¶ 9, 134 N.M. 768, 82 P.3d 939. Our primary goal is to ascertain and give

effect to the intent of the Legislature. State v. Davis, 2003-NMSC-022, ¶ 6, 134 N.M. 172,

74 P.3d 1064. In doing so, “we examine the plain language of the statute as well as the

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context in which it was promulgated, including the history of the statute and the object and

purpose the Legislature sought to accomplish.” Maes v. Audubon Indem. Ins. Group,

2007-NMSC-046, ¶ 11, 142 N.M. 235, 164 P.3d 934; see Hovet v. Allstate Ins. Co.,

2004-NMSC-010, ¶ 10, 135 N.M. 397, 89 P.3d 69. We must take care to avoid adoption of

a construction that would “render the statute’s application absurd or unreasonable” or “lead

to injustice or contradiction.” N.M. State Bd. of Educ. v. Bd. of Educ., 95 N.M. 588, 591,

624 P.2d 530, 533 (1981).

III. DISCUSSION

{12} Article 7 of the New Mexico Criminal Code, “Weapons and Explosives,” contains

several statutes imposing criminal sanctions for unlawfully carrying deadly weapons.

Section 30-7-1, provides with respect to all those statutes that “‘[c]arrying a deadly weapon’

means being armed with a deadly weapon . . . or in close proximity thereto, so that the

weapon is readily accessible for use.” NMSA 1978, § 30-7-1 (1963); see State v. Salazar,

1997-NMCA-043, ¶¶ 8, 10, 123 N.M. 347, 940 P.2d 195 (holding that the term “carrying”

does not have a broader meaning in connection with carrying a weapon on school grounds;

whether the defendant was carrying a deadly weapon was a factual determination to be made

by a jury in school ground cases, in the same manner as in prosecutions under other statutes

criminalizing the carrying of a deadly weapon).

{13} The basic crime of unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon is contained in NMSA

1978, Section 30-7-2(A) (2001), which imposes a petty misdemeanor criminal penalty of up

to six months in jail, and NMSA 1978, § 31-19-1(B) (1984), for carrying “a concealed

loaded firearm or any other type of deadly weapon anywhere, except” in one’s automobile

for personal protection, on one’s real property, with a concealed firearms permit, or by a

peace officer.

{14} In addition to this generally applicable weapons-carrying crime, Article 7 also

contains statutes providing heightened criminal penalties for carrying deadly weapons in

particular contexts, such as authorizing a full misdemeanor jail sentence of up to a year,

NMSA 1978, § 31-19-1(A) (1984), for carrying any deadly weapon on a bus, NMSA 1978,

§ 30-7-13 (1979), and a felony prison sentence of up to eighteen months for carrying any

deadly weapon on school grounds, § 30-7-2.1, the criminal charge involved in this case. See

NMSA 1978, § 31-18-15(A)(10) (2005, prior to 2007 amendment).

{15} Although neither Section 30-7-2.1 nor any other statute in Article 7 contains any

further definition of what is meant by the recurring term “deadly weapon,” the courts below

and the parties have recognized that the definition applicable to those statutes is contained

in Section 30-1-12(B), the Criminal Code’s uniform definition of the term, applicable to a

broad range of offenses involving both use and possession of deadly weapons. See State v.

Traeger, 2001-NMSC-022, ¶ 10, 130 N.M. 618, 29 P.3d 518 (interpreting Section 30-1-

12(B) in the context of a charge of aggravated battery with a baseball bat as a deadly

weapon); State v. Fernandez, 2007-NMCA-091, ¶¶ 6, 8-9, 142 N.M. 231, 164 P.3d 112

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(interpreting Section 30-1-12(B) in the context of a charge of armed robbery with a BB gun

as a deadly weapon); State v. Galaz, 2003-NMCA-076, ¶¶ 4, 9-10, 133 N.M. 794, 70 P.3d

784 (interpreting Section 30-1-12(B) in the context of a probation revocation for possession

of bullets as deadly weapons); State v. Anderson, 2001-NMCA-027, ¶¶ 10, 14, 130 N.M.

295, 24 P.3d 327 (interpreting Section 30-1-12(B) in the context of a charge of aggravated

stalking with a stick as a deadly weapon); State v. Blea, 100 N.M. 237, 238-39, 668 P.2d

1114, 1115-16 (Ct. App. 1983) (interpreting a similar city ordinance in the context of a

charge of unlawful carrying of a voltage tester as a deadly weapon). We therefore must

analyze the proper interpretation of this uniform statutory definition of deadly weapons in

light of its multiple intended applications.

A. Statutory Language Analysis

{16} The first step in any statutory construction is to try “to determine and give effect to

the Legislature’s intent” by analyzing the language of the statute. Marbob Energy Corp. v.

N.M. Oil Conservation Comm’n, 2009-NMSC-013, ¶ 9, 146 N.M. 24, 206 P.3d 135. The

“deadly weapons” definitional statute, which includes specifically named weapons and

several generic catchalls, neither refers to a pocketknife in particular nor to all knives in

general. While it includes “any firearm, whether loaded or unloaded,” it does not include

“any knife.” See § 30-1-12(B). Instead, Section 30-1-12(B) clearly designates by name a

number of specific kinds of knives as included within its definition of deadly weapon:

“daggers . . . switchblade knives, bowie knives, poniards, butcher knives, dirk knives . . .

swordcanes, and any kind of sharp pointed canes.”

{17} Because a common pocketknife is not mentioned in the statute, we consider whether

the Legislature intended to give it the same status as the specifically named weapons through

application of the three general catchall clauses in the statute: (1) “any weapon which is

capable of producing death or great bodily harm,” (2) “and all such weapons with which

dangerous cuts can be given, or with which dangerous thrusts can be inflicted,” and (3) “or

any other weapons with which dangerous wounds can be inflicted.” Section 30-1-12(B).

The State argues that the Court of Appeals was correct in interpreting the phrase “and all

such weapons with which dangerous cuts can be given, or with which dangerous thrusts can

be inflicted” as reflecting a legislative intent to include pocketknives as per se deadly

weapons.

{18} Because all of the catchalls relate specifically to “weapons” rather than a more

inclusive term such as “items” or “instruments,” we must address what the Legislature meant

by its use of the term “weapons.” That term is not defined separately in the statutes, and we

therefore must consider the ordinary meaning most likely to have been in the minds of the

enacting legislators. See State v. Gutierrez, 2007-NMSC-033, ¶ 30, 142 N.M. 1, 162 P.3d

156 (interpreting the intended meaning of words used by the Legislature by consulting

dictionaries to ascertain their “ordinary meaning”). The dictionary definitions of “weapon”

focus on an object’s use or intended use against another. See, e.g., Webster’s Third New

International Dictionary 2589 (1976) (“an instrument of offensive or defensive combat”);

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Black’s Law Dictionary 1624 (8th ed. 2004) (“An instrument used or designed to be used

to injure or kill someone”). The Court of Appeals recently reaffirmed the applicability of

this mode of interpretation in State v. Neatherlin, 2007-NMCA-035, ¶ 15, 141 N.M. 328, 154

P.2d 703: “This Court has previously relied on the definition of ‘weapon’ from Black’s Law

Dictionary 1593 (6th ed. 1990): ‘An instrument of offensive or defensive combat, or

anything used, or designed to be used, in destroying, defeating, threatening, or injuring a

person.’” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted).

{19} The definitions of the specific items named in the statute emphasize that the

Legislature must have had in mind instruments used or carried for use in injuring or killing

people when it repeatedly used the term “weapons.” See, e.g., 8 Oxford English Dictionary

95 (2d ed. 1989) (defining “poniard” as “[a] short stabbing weapon”); 4 Oxford English

Dictionary, supra, at 214 (defining “dagger” as “[a] short stout edged and pointed weapon,

like a small sword, used for thrusting and stabbing”); Webster’s Third New International

Dictionary, supra, at 642 (defining “dirk” as “a long straight-bladed dagger”); id. at 2314

(defining “sword cane” as “a cane or walking stick that conceals the blade of a sword or

dagger”); id. at 2314 (defining “sword” as “a weapon with a long blade for cutting and

thrusting”); id. at 262 (defining “bowie knife” as “a large hunting knife adapted esp. for

knife-fighting and common in western frontier regions”).

{20} The striking characteristic of all the inherently dangerous items identified by name

in the statute is that they are generally carried on one’s person for their utility as offensive

or defensive weapons. In contrast, no definition of “pocketknife” we have found refers to

it as a “weapon” or refers to its having a purpose of use against other human beings. See id.

at 1747 (defining “pocketknife” simply as “a knife with a blade folding into the handle to

fit it for being carried in the pocket”).

{21} New Mexico courts have long recognized the ejusdem generis principle of statutory

construction, that where general words follow words of a more specific meaning, “the

general words are not construed in their widest extent but are instead construed as applying

to persons or things of the same kind or class as those specifically mentioned.” State v.

Foulenfont, 119 N.M. 788, 791, 895 P.2d 1329, 1332 (Ct. App. 1995) (internal quotation

marks and citation omitted); see id. at 790-91, 895 P.2d at 1331-32 (declining to interpret

a chainlink fence as a “structure” as meant in the burglary statute, which criminalizes

unlawful entry into “any vehicle, watercraft, aircraft, dwelling or other structure, movable

or immovable” (internal quotation marks and citation omitted)); see also State ex rel.

Murphy v. Morley, 63 N.M. 267, 269, 317 P.2d 317, 318-19 (1957) (applying the principle

to hold that “lewdness,” as meant by a statute defining a sanctionable nuisance as “any place

upon which lewdness, assignation or prostitution, is conducted,” did not include the showing

of pornographic films or other acts “not connected with assignation or prostitution”) (internal

quotation marks and citation omitted). The meaning of “weapons” in the catchall phrases

thus would necessarily share the attributes of the items specifically named, that is, inherently

dangerous items that either are carried for use or are actually used to inflict injuries on

people.

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{22} The application of this concept of statutory construction to this case is made

inescapable by the Legislature’s use of the adjective “such” before “weapons” in the generic

phrase relied on by the State, which is found immediately after the itemization of prohibited

kinds of knives: “and all such weapons with which dangerous cuts can be given, or with

which dangerous thrusts can be inflicted.” Section 30-1-12(B). The word “such” has the

same meaning in legal analysis as it does in other linguistic applications. See 17 Oxford

English Dictionary, supra, at 102 (defining “such” as “[o]f the same kind or class as

something mentioned or referred to; of that kind; similar, the like”); Bryan A. Garner, A

Dictionary of Modern Legal Usage 849 (2d ed. 1995) (“Such is properly used as an adjective

when reference has previously been made to a category of persons or things: thus such = of

this kind, not this, these or those.”). The use of the word “such” in this definitional statute

underscores that the generic catchall is directed to the same kind of things specifically

named, instruments carried for use, or actually used, to injure or kill people.

{23} Significantly, the statute names only one kind of knife that folds for carrying in a

pocket, the weapon known as a “switchblade,” which is commonly defined as “a pocketknife

having the blade spring-operated so that pressure on a release catch causes it to fly open,”

Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, supra, at 2314, and which is defined further

in our statutes as a

knife which has a blade which opens automatically by hand pressure applied

to a button, spring or other device in the handle of the knife, or any knife

having a blade which opens or falls or is ejected into position by the force of

gravity or by any outward or centrifugal thrust or movement.

NMSA 1978, § 30-7-8 (1963). It is difficult to imagine that the Legislature could have

meant to include all pocketknives when it not only did not name them but at the same time

expressly named only one narrowly specialized type of folding pocketknife that is designed

for quick use in a knife fight. “The age-old Latin phrase inclusio unius est exclusio alterius

is applicable here. It means the inclusion of one thing is the exclusion of the other. The

legislature did not see fit to include it in the statute, therefore it is excluded.” City of Santa

Rosa v. Jaramillo, 85 N.M. 747, 749-50, 517 P.2d 69, 71-72 (1973) (applying the concept

to the scope of a permissible liquor license transfer).

{24} Even though we can find nothing in the plain wording of the statute that reflects any

expression of legislative intent to criminalize the carrying of a common pocketknife, out of

caution we also have traced the statute’s long history in New Mexico law.

B. Statutory History

{25} To understand fully the intended meaning of a statute describing what the State in

its briefing understandably refers to as a “quaint collection” of nineteenth century weapons

such as poniards and dirk knives and swordcanes, it is important to trace the statute’s origins

and development.

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{26} The statutory use of the term “deadly weapon” in New Mexico law dates back to the

earliest territorial days, and it began with concerns about the actual use, rather than mere

possession, of deadly weapons. The rather sparse collection of criminal statutes first set

forth in Territorial New Mexico’s 1846 Kearny Code provided no definition of the term

“deadly weapon,” although it did contain one deadly weapon offense, assault with a deadly

weapon. Kearny Code of Laws (1846), Crimes and Punishments, art. III, § 7; see Territory

v. Sevailles, 1 N.M. 119, 123, 1855 WL 2214, at *1 (1855) (holding that an indictment

charging assault with intent to kill with an undescribed knife was insufficient under the

statute because of its failure to allege that the assault was committed with a deadly weapon).

{27} In 1869, the New Mexico Territorial Legislative Assembly enacted the

comprehensive statutory definition of the term “deadly weapons” that formed the basic

framework of the modern definition. 1868-69 N.M. Laws, ch. 32, §§ 1-16. The Act made

it a crime for people “to carry deadly weapons, either concealed or otherwise, on or about

their persons within any of the settlements of this Territory,” other than on their own real

property, id. § 1, or while traveling between settlements or towns. Id. § 11. Hotels, boarding

houses, and saloons were required to post notices that travelers were required to divest

themselves of their deadly weapons within one hour of their arrival in a town. Id. § 12.

Section 7 provided that “where the words ‘weapons’ or ‘deadly weapons’ are used in this

act, such word or words shall be construed to mean the weapons described in section two of

this act.” Id. § 7. Section 2 contained the first statutory articulation of the definition that has

been carried forward with little change for almost a century and a half into New Mexico’s

current criminal code:

Deadly weapons, in the meaning of this act, shall be construed to mean all

kinds and classes of pistols whether the same be a revolver, repeater,

derringer, or any other kind or class of pistol; any and all kinds of bowie

knives, daggers, poniards, butcher knives, dirk knives, and all such weapons

with which cuts can be given, or by which wounds can be inflicted by

thrusting, including sword canes and such sharp pointed canes with which

deadly thrusts can be given, and all kinds of slung shots, and any other kinds

of deadly weapon, by whatever name it may be called, by which a dangerous

wound can be inflicted.

Id. § 2.

{28} The only material alteration of the definition of “deadly weapons” since territorial

days was the addition of two more modern weapons, switchblade knives and brass knuckles,

in 1953. NMSA 1953, § 40A-1-13(B) (Vol. 6, 2d Repl.). The specific addition of the

switchblade in a later statutory amendment is of particular significance to the issues in this

case. If folding pocketknives already had been included in the catchall language that had

existed for over half a century, the amendment that added the switchblade, a very specialized

folding pocketknife, would have been superfluous. This Court has long held that we must

avoid constructions of statutory amendments that “would render the change unnecessary and

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meaningless.” State v. Romero, 73 N.M. 109, 115, 385 P.2d 967, 970 (1963) (applying the

principle to a change in criminal sentencing statutes). Indeed, if the statute made all

pocketknives prohibited weapons without regard to their actual or intended use, the Court

of Appeals need not have gone to the effort of trying to determine whether a quick-release

butterfly knife qualified as a switchblade in State v. Riddall, 112 N.M. 78, 79-80, 811 P.2d

576, 577-78 (Ct. App. 1991). See id. at 82, 811 P.2d at 580 (determining that a butterfly

knife fit the statutory definition of a switchblade and therefore was a “deadly weapon” under

the statute).

C. Judicial Interpretations

{29} The first reported appellate opinion to construe the statutory definition of “deadly

weapon,” interestingly in the context of its application to a pocketknife, was Territory v.

Armijo, 7 N.M. 571, 577-78, 37 P. 1117, 1118 (1894). By that time, the definition had been

slightly amended by the Deadly Weapon Act of 1887 to resemble even more closely the

current wording, primarily by adding the adjective “dangerous” before the nouns “cuts” and

“thrusts”:

Deadly weapons, within the meaning of this act, shall be construed to mean

all kinds and classes of pistols, whether the same be a revolver, repeater,

derringer, or any kind or class of pistol or gun; any and all kinds of daggers,

bowie knives, poniards, butcher knives, dirk knives, and all such weapons

with which dangerous cuts can be given, or with which dangerous thrusts can

be inflicted, including sword canes, and any kind of sharp pointed canes; as

also slung shots, bludgeons or any other deadly weapons with which

dangerous wounds can be inflicted.

1887 N.M. Laws, ch. 30, § 8.

{30} In Armijo, the defendant was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and was

alleged to have used a pocketknife to “cut, stab, and wound” the victim. Id. at 574, 37 P. at

1117. Our Territorial Supreme Court held that the indictment was fatally flawed because it

failed to set forth how “the kind or character of the knife” was a deadly weapon as defined

in the statute. Id. at 577, 37 P. at 1118. The Court concluded that while many ordinary

knives may become deadly weapons by virtue of their use in a particular case, not all knives

are automatically “deadly weapons” as a matter of law. Id. Of particular relevance to the

issue before us, the Court addressed whether a pocketknife could be considered a per se

deadly weapon under the statutory definition:

It is evident that the kind and character of the knife should be

described as one of the class therein mentioned. The word “such” qualifies

the kind of knives, and the knife used, to bring the offense within the act,

must belong to that class. It was never intended by the legislature to include

in the class named ordinary pocket knives as deadly weapons.

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Id. at 578, 37 P. at 1118. No case has ever overruled or even criticized Armijo’s

substantially contemporaneous holding that “[i]t was never intended by the legislature to

include . . . ordinary pocket knives as deadly weapons.” Id.

{31} It should not be surprising that the Armijo Court would find unacceptable the notion

that the Legislature had intended to criminalize possession of an ordinary pocketknife in the

same manner as firearms or knives commonly carried for their usefulness as deadly weapons.

Apparently, penknives and other folding pocketknives were commonly possessed by persons

of all ages in the era when the statute was enacted. See, e.g., Sevailles, 1 N.M. at 124, 1855

WL at *3 (Brocchus, J., dissenting) (referring to knives “commonly in use” which “a

gentleman would carry in his pocket for the harmless purpose of making pens”).

{32} Mark Twain, America’s popular chronicler of nineteenth century frontier life,

repeatedly mentioned the ubiquitous Barlow pocketknives in his classic Tom Sawyer and

Huckleberry Finn books. See Mark Twain, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer 30-31 (Harper

& Brothers 1920) (1875) (“Mary gave [Tom] a brand-new ‘Barlow’ knife worth twelve and

a half cents; and the convulsion of delight that swept his system shook him to his

foundations. True, the knife would not cut anything, but it was a ‘sure-enough’ Barlow, and

there was inconceivable grandeur in that . . . .”); id. at 276 (looking for buried treasure,

“Tom’s ‘real Barlow’ was out at once, and he had not dug four inches before he struck

wood”); Mark Twain, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn 70 (Harper & Brothers 1912)

(1884) (stocking their canoe for a river trip, Tom and Huck “got an old tin lantern, and a

butcher-knife without any handle, and a bran-new Barlow knife worth two bits in any

store”); id. at 193 (“There was empty dry-goods boxes under the awnings, and loafers

roosting on them all day long, whittling them with their Barlow knives . . . .”).

{33} For over a century since Armijo was decided, numerous other cases have illuminated

the issues before us in the course of construing the definition in a variety of contexts, most

often in cases where the object was actually used as a weapon. In State v. Conwell, 36 N.M.

253, 255, 13 P.2d 554, 555 (1932), the defendant was convicted by a jury of actual assault

with a deadly weapon, not its mere possession. The alleged weapon used to beat the victim

was a four-inch-long rock. Id. at 254, 13 P.2d at 555. The defendant argued before this

Court that there was insufficient evidence to support a jury finding that the rock used on the

victim’s face was a deadly weapon, as defined in the statutory catchall of “bludgeons or any

other deadly weapons with which dangerous wounds can be inflicted.” Id. at 255, 13 P.2d

at 555. In language that is instructive here, Conwell held that “[w]here the instrument used

is not one declared by the statute to be a deadly weapon, it is ordinarily a question for the

jury to determine whether it is so, considering the character of the instrument and the manner

of its use.” Id. The Court noted with approval that the rock had been passed among the

jurors, “enabling them to know its dimensions, weight, sharpness of its edges, and

potentiality for infliction of dangerous wounds from the manner in which it was claimed to

have been used.” Id. at 255-56, 13 P.2d at 556.

{34} In State v. Mitchell, 43 N.M. 138, 139-40, 87 P.2d 432, 433 (1939), the defendant

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was charged with assaulting a victim “with a certain deadly weapon, to-wit: a certain knife,

with which dangerous cuts could be given, and with which dangerous wounds and thrusts

could be inflicted.” Mitchell endorsed Conwell’s application of the “well settled rule” that

where an instrument is not specifically named in the statute as a deadly weapon, whether it

is an unlawful deadly weapon is a fact question for the jury to resolve by considering the

instrument’s use by an accused and the other circumstances of a particular case. Id. at 140,

87 P.2d at 433.

{35} This approach has been recognized and applied repeatedly over the years in a long

line of opinions by the courts of this State up to the present day. See, e.g., State v. Martinez,

57 N.M. 174, 176, 256 P.2d 791, 792 (1953) (holding that it was for the jury to determine

whether a knife with a two-inch blade was a deadly weapon as used by the defendant in the

circumstances of the case); State v. Gonzales, 85 N.M. 780, 781, 517 P.2d 1306, 1307 (Ct.

App. 1973) (concluding that because the statute does not specifically define a tire tool as a

deadly weapon, the determination whether the tool was a deadly weapon in the context of

a robbery prosecution was for the jury).

{36} Although fewer in number than the actual use cases, the simple possession cases

follow a similar approach, holding the jury must determine whether the accused had the

“intent to carry or to use the [unlisted] object as a weapon.” Blea, 100 N.M. at 239, 668 P.2d

at 1116. In Blea, the Court of Appeals reversed a conviction for simple possession of a

voltage tester, even though it could have been used to stab someone:

A voltage tester, or other utilitarian tool or object is not per se a weapon; it

may, however, become a weapon by its actual use . . . or by the purpose for

which it is carried. Hence, a factual finding as to defendant’s intent or

purpose in carrying the object is necessary to determine guilt or innocence

of an accused charged with carrying a concealed article not expressly listed

as a deadly weapon . . . .

Id. (internal citations omitted); see also Anderson, 2001-NMCA-027, ¶ 32 (reversing a

conviction for carrying a stick as a deadly weapon and thereby committing the offense of

aggravated stalking).

[W]hen the object or instrument in question is an unlisted one that falls

within the catchall language of Section 30-1-12(B), the jury must be

instructed (1) that the defendant must have possessed the object or instrument

with the intent to use it as a weapon, and (2) the object or instrument is one

that, if so used, could inflict dangerous wounds.

Id.

{37} In short, our cases hold that in an actual use case involving an unlisted weapon, the

jury must find, among other elements, that an object was actually used as a weapon and that

11

it was capable of causing the wounds described in the statute. In a simple possession case,

the jury must find that the object was possessed with intent to carry it as a weapon and that

it was capable of causing the wounds described in the statute. These are determinations that

cannot be ruled on by a trial court as a matter of law and taken from the jury’s consideration,

no matter how obvious the existence of any essential element of an offense may seem. It is

impermissible to enter a “partial directed verdict” against a defendant because it is “the

fundamental right of a criminal defendant to have the jury determine whether each element

of the charged offense has been proved by the state beyond a reasonable doubt.” State v.

Orosco, 113 N.M. 780, 786, 833 P.2d 1146, 1152 (1992) (determining that a trial court had

not removed an essential element of an offense from a jury’s consideration in a sex offense

prosecution).

{38} We have found no New Mexico case that has ever interpreted the “deadly weapons”

definitional statute inconsistently with this large body of precedent. Neither court below

ever addressed the statutory history or the relevant New Mexico case law interpreting and

applying the “deadly weapon” definition. Instead, the Court of Appeals cited this Court’s

opinion in State v. Baca, 114 N.M. 668, 674, 845 P.2d 762, 768 (1992), in support of its

position that the public policy of ensuring safety for certain segments of the population

eliminated any “use requirement” in certain weapons possession crimes. Nick R., No.

27,145, slip op. at 4. Neither Baca nor any other precedent has stood for that proposition.

The issue in Baca had nothing to do with the statutory definition of “deadly weapon” or its

proof requirements. The only issue in Baca was whether a defendant could avail himself of

a duress defense against a charge of intentional possession of a conceded deadly weapon,

a purposeful weapon known as a “shank,” by a prison inmate who claimed he needed to arm

himself for self-defense. 114 N.M. at 673-74, 845 P.2d at 767-68.

{39} Similarly, State v. Padilla, 1996-NMCA-072, 122 N.M. 92, 920 P.2d 1046, did not

analyze the statutory definition of “deadly weapon.” Instead, it specifically addressed

whether stealing and carrying away a deadly weapon constituted “arming” oneself during

a burglary. Id. ¶ 1. The opinion therefore never had occasion to address what proof would

have been necessary if there had been an issue as to whether the item possessed met the

statutory definition of a deadly weapon.

{40} New Mexico’s case law is consistent with that of other jurisdictions, which routinely

distinguish between legislatively designated per se deadly weapons and a vast array of tools

and other ordinary items that could become deadly weapons if used offensively. See, e.g.,

Grass v. People, 471 P.2d 602, 605 (Colo. 1970) (shoe as deadly weapon); Timm v. State,

644 N.E.2d 1235, 1238-39 (Ind. 1994) (plastic flashlight); Johnson v. State, 455 N.E.2d 932,

936 (Ind. 1983) (automobile); State v. Kelly, 571 A.2d 1286, 1292-93 (N.J. 1990) (carpet-

cutting razor); People v. Elijah B., 813 N.Y.S.2d 405, 406 (N.Y. App. Div. 2006) (work

boots); People v. Buhagiar, 713 N.Y.S.2d 114, 115 (N.Y. App. Div. 2000) (pestle); Bald

Eagle v. State, 355 P.2d 1015, 1017 (Okla. Crim. App. 1960) (beer bottle); Strahan v. State,

284 P.2d 744, 749 (Okla. Crim. App. 1955) (metal automobile window crank); State v.

Barrientos, 444 N.W.2d 374, 377 (S.D. 1989) (race car); Bui v. State, 964 S.W.2d 335, 342

12

(Tex. Crim. App. 1998) (Duraflame log); Broom v. State, 242 S.W. 236, 238 (Tex. Crim.

App. 1922) (breast yoke of a wagon); State v. Bodoh, 595 N.W.2d 330, 333 (Wis. 1999)

(dog). Our own actual use cases have included such situational deadly weapons as a human

mouth, a trivet, a brick wall, and a screwdriver. See Neatherlin, 2007-NMCA-035, ¶¶ 13,

15 (reviewing precedents and concluding that the statutory catchall language “is broad

enough to include an individual’s mouth” in the factual context of a particular case).

{41} This Court recently reaffirmed the long-standing approach of New Mexico case law

“that it effectuates the legislative intent to give Section 30-1-12(B) a narrow construction.”

Traeger, 2001-NMSC-022, ¶ 12. In Traeger, we held that because a baseball bat was not

specifically named in the statute as a deadly weapon per se, it was for the jury to decide

whether a baseball bat was sufficiently dangerous to be a “deadly weapon” when used in an

aggravated battery. Id.; see also ¶ 26 (“[W]e retain the rule that if the item is not specifically

listed in Section 30-1-12(B), then a jury should make that determination considering the

character of the instrument and manner of its use.”).

{42} Of particular significance to the case at bar, Traeger cautioned that if this Court were

to make a baseball bat a per se deadly weapon under the general definitional statute in the

Criminal Code, it would have far-reaching implications for other statutes and would

criminalize the mere carrying of a bat in a variety of situations. Id. ¶ 15. “We believe that

to criminalize the carrying of a baseball bat, without a jury finding that the baseball bat was

a deadly weapon and that the baseball bat was in fact being carried because it could be used

as a weapon, is incongruent with New Mexico law.” Id.

{43} Traeger’s concerns apply with equal force here. If we were to hold that a

pocketknife is a per se deadly weapon, it would mean a person who carried one at work, on

a fishing trip, or virtually anywhere else would commit the criminal offense of carrying a

deadly weapon, in violation of Section 30-7-2. It would increase that statute’s potential six-

month penalty to a potential jail sentence of up to a year if the defendant took a bus to work

while carrying the pocketknife, under the provisions of Section 30-7-13. And in this case,

if Nick’s father had gone to pick his son up at school or had gone to a parent-teacher

conference with his own utilitarian work knife in his pocket, he could have been imprisoned

and lost his civil rights for the felony of carrying a deadly weapon on school premises, under

the terms of the same statute that was applied to Nick below. Indeed, the same far-reaching

theory could result in criminal liability for innocently possessing any of the tools, other

objects, and even body parts that have been found to constitute deadly weapons when used

offensively. We simply cannot attribute to the Legislature any such unexpressed objectives

in enacting New Mexico’s deadly weapons statutes.

D. School Security Concerns

{44} In 1994, when the Legislature enacted the statute making it a felony to possess deadly

weapons on school grounds, it neither created a new definition of “deadly weapons” for use

in school cases nor amended in any way the existing general definition in the Criminal Code.

13

Cf. State v. Salazar, 1997-NMCA-043, ¶ 9, 123 N.M. 347, 940 P.2d 195 (“We believe the

legislature intended [in Section 30-7-1] that its definition of carrying a deadly weapon would

apply to all statutes making it a crime to carry a deadly weapon, whether concealed or on

school premises.”) Doe v. State ex rel. Governor’s Organized Crime Prevention Comm’n,

114 N.M. 78, 80, 835 P.2d 76, 78 (1992) (stating that the Legislature is presumed to know

about existing laws and cannot be inferred to have enacted a law inconsistent with an

existing law). The Legislature simply expanded the existing criminal consequences for

carrying a deadly weapon, from petty misdemeanor to fourth-degree felony penalties, if the

crime was committed on school grounds. It expressed no intention whatsoever to change the

definition of a deadly weapon.

{45} We are sensitive to the concern expressed by the State that “the social problem of

deadly weapons in the schools is certainly more formidable and intractable than it was in

1855.” This Court, however, must be careful not to intrude on the exclusive legislative

prerogative to take those kinds of arguments into account in deciding whether an existing

statute should be changed. Whether or not concerns of security arguably might now justify

criminalizing the simple possession of potentially dangerous utilitarian tools on school

grounds, “this Court is not the entity charged with the modernization of the relevant statute.”

Traeger, 2001-NMSC-022, ¶ 14 (declining to add a baseball bat as a modern expansion of

the historical bludgeon included in the definition).

{46} Nor is anything in this opinion intended to impair the existing authority of school

authorities to promulgate and enforce administrative security measures of the kind the Taos

School Superintendent expeditiously employed in this case before the District Attorney filed

charges under the criminal statutes. See, e.g., Taos High School, Student Behavior Policy,

in Handbook §§ IV(A)-(B)(1), VI(A)(2)(p)-(q) (2008) (listing both possession of a weapon

of any kind and possession of a pocketknife among specific examples of behavior that may

result in school disciplinary action); Santa Fe Public Schools, Board of Education Policy

Manual §§ 336-3 to -4, 347-1 (2002) (prohibiting possession of “any firearm, knife . . . or

other object, even if manufactured for a nonviolent purpose, that has a potentially violent

use, or any ‘look-a-like’ object that resembles an object that has a potentially violent use, if,

under the surrounding circumstances, the purpose of keeping or carrying the object is for

use, or threat of use, as a weapon”); Albuquerque Public Schools, Student Behavior

Handbook: 2008-2009 11, 25 (2008) (prohibiting possession of, among other items, “a

firearm, any type of gun, knife, club . . . that may cause or is intended to cause injury or

death”). The Legislature has specifically mandated minimum one-year expulsions of

students who knowingly bring to school any firearms, explosives, or incendiary devices.

NMSA 1978, § 22-5-4.7 (1995).

{47} “[P]ublic school officials [have] an effective means of disciplining unruly or

disruptive pupils in an administrative fashion.” State v. Doe, 92 P.3d 521, 525 (Idaho 2004);

see also In re Julio L., 3 P.3d 383, 385 (Ariz. 2000) (en banc) (“[N]ot every violation of

public decorum or of school rules gives legal cause for criminal adjudication . . . .”).

14

{48} Whatever the Legislature or school officials may choose to do in defining and

sanctioning weapons violations in their respective spheres of authority, the courts are simply

not invested with substantive policy-making authority to create those policies. It is the duty

of the judicial branch to enforce the lawful policies established by the political branches as

they are written and intended. In this case, we follow a long and consistent interpretation

of legislative intent in reaffirming that our Legislature has not chosen to define an ordinary

pocketknife as a per se deadly weapon, without regard to either its actual or its intended use.

IV. CONCLUSION

{49} The Children’s Court erred in denying Petitioner a jury determination of whether he

intended to carry his pocketknife as a deadly weapon, as that term is defined in the

applicable New Mexico statutes, and the Court of Appeals erred in holding that he had no

right to such a jury resolution. We reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals and remand

to the Children’s Court for further proceedings in accordance with this Opinion.

{50} IT IS SO ORDERED.

____________________________________

CHARLES W. DANIELS, Justice

WE CONCUR:

____________________________________

EDWARD L. CHÁVEZ, Chief Justice

____________________________________

PATRICIO M. SERNA, Justice

____________________________________

PETRA JIMENEZ MAES, Justice

____________________________________

RICHARD C. BOSSON, Justice

Topic Index for State v. Nick R., No. 30,657

CL CRIMINAL LAW

CL-DW Deadly Weapon

CL-SI Specific Intent

CL-WO Weapons Offenses

ST STATUTES

ST-AP Applicability

15

ST-IP Interpretation

ST-LI Legislative Intent

ST-RC Rules of Construction

16