Delaware General Assembly

Signed 6/30/03

The General Assembly has ended, the current status is the final status.

4/8/03

Atkins

Sen. Bunting

AN ACT TO AMEND CHAPTER 5, TITLE 11 OF THE DELAWARE CODE RELATING TO OFFENSES INVOLVING THREAT OF WEAPONS.

In 1975, the Delaware Supreme Court interpreted Delaware’s Robbery First Degree statute as applying whenever a criminal intimidates a victim by manifesting the presence of a deadly weapon in such a way that it is perceived by any of the victim’s senses. State v. Smallwood, 346 A2d. 164 (Del. 1975). In 1997, the Court followed the Smallwood case when it upheld the conviction of a robber in a case where the only manifestation to the victim of the presence of a deadly weapon was the defendant’s verbal threat that he had a gun. McKamey v. State, 1997 WL 45060 (Del. Supr.). In 2002, the Court adopted a contrary interpretation of the robbery statute and reversed a bank robbery conviction in a case where the defendant demanded money from a bank teller after handing her a note that read “This is a holdup…I am armed,” reasoning that such evidence was insufficient to meet the statutory requirement that the presence of a deadly weapon was made manifest to the victim. This Amendment clarifies that any person who represents by word or conduct that they are in possession or control of a deadly weapon is committing a more serious crime than if there was no such representation. This Act will clarify that it is the General Assembly’s intent to ensure that the Robbery First Degree statute will apply whenever a criminal intends to intimidate a robbery victim by threatening the presence of a deadly weapon, regardless of whether the intimidation is accomplished by a physical display of what appears to be a deadly weapon or a verbal threat or other conduct that clearly implies that the criminal is so armed. It is based upon similar statutes from Arkansas, Colorado and Connecticut. See Clemmons v. State, 796 S. W. 2d 583 (Ark. 1990). The Act also clarifies the similarly worded portions of Delaware’s Rape and Carjacking statutes.

N/A

N/A

N/A

N/A

View HTML View PDF