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Virginia Court Rules that a Butterfly Knife is Not a Concealed Weapon under State Law and Reverses Defendant's Conviction


July 01, 2009
Topic: Weapons Charges

In the case of Wayne Thompson v. Commonwealth, the Virginia Supreme Court has reversed, vacated, and dismissed a conviction for illegally carrying a concealed weapon after deciding that he weapon the defendant possessed, a butterfly knife, is not the type of weapon covered by Virginia's concealed weapons law. As the court held,

"[a]lthough the evidence is sufficient to prove that Thompson's butterfly knife is a ‘weapon,' it is insufficient as a matter of law to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the particular knife at issue is ‘of like kind' to a dirk or any other weapon enumerated in Code § 18.2-308(A). The conclusion of the trial court, acting as the trier of fact, that Thompson's butterfly knife is ‘of like kind' to a dirk is plainly wrong and without evidence to support it. See Code § 8.01-680. For that reason, we will reverse the judgment of the Court of Appeals, vacate Thompson's conviction under Code § 18.2-308.2(A), and dismiss the amended indictment."

A copy of the opinion is available by clicking on the link at the end of this post. 

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Attachments:
VASupCt-Thompson.pdf


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