If you rob a bank with an unloaded toy gun, you will be charged and likely convicted of burglary while in possession of a deadly weapon and robbery with use of a deadly weapon. The Nevada Supreme Court recently decided this very issue in the case of Berry v. State. This dumb defendant stuck a toy gun to a bank employee’s head while she walked to her car during closing time. He made her unlock the safe, which took ten minutes. During the wait, the dude felt her up and made lewd comments about her body being sexy, causing her to feel like he might rape her or something. Along with being charged with burglary with a deadly weapon and robbery with use of a deadly weapon, the freak was also charged with one count of open and gross lewdness. And well he should be. He was gross.
Anyway, he ran from the cops who waited for him to exit the bank, and they finally caught him in an apartment complex hiding behind a washing machine. The cops saw the stolen loot and toy gun. He was convicted of the three crimes and decided to appeal while rotting in prison. The Supreme Court took one look at this scumbag’s argument, and disagreed with him. Berry thought that he was being clever by using a toy gun. His limited intellect told him that maybe he wouldn’t get hard time if he used a toy instead of a real weapon. Surely a judge would think he wasn’t so bad since he could not have killed with an unloaded toy.
Well, the unloaded toy was still considered a deadly weapon, partly because it could potentially be adapted for such since it had a spring mechanism, trigger, and the potential to shoot a pellet or perhaps .22 bullet. Also, he intended for his victim to believe it was a deadly weapon in order to effectuate his crime. The victim, if she had been allowed to have a handgun on her while working at the bank, could have shot him in “apparent” self-defense because she would have reasonably believed her life was in danger.
The moral of this tale--don’t be stupid.
Copyright: August 21, 2009
By: Anthony M. Wright, J.D.
http://www.wrightlawnv.com:
Knowing and using the law to ensure people are treated justly is a calling that came to me one day when I had hiked to the top of Frenchman Mountain, overlooking Las Vegas, and realized that none of what I saw below could exist without law and order. I then applied for and was accepted into law school and studied the areas of law that I thought had the greatest impact on lives, including family law, property law, and criminal law.
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