The Southern District of the Missouri Court of Appeals recently decided that an ink pen can be used as a dangerous instrument. On March 5, 2007, the court handed down its decision in State v. Arnold. In this case the defendant was being held in the Miller County Adult Detention Center. He and another inmate were in a holding area conducting legal research. When they were left alone with one guard they rushed the guard and held her captive. The defendant handcuffed the guard and used an ink pen against her neck underneath her jaw bone. The defendant took her to various places in the detention center trying to negotiate with the other guards to let him leave or he would kill the guard. Eventually the defendant and the other inmate were captured and the defendant was charged and found guilty of attempted escape from confinement, armed criminal action and kidnapping. The defendant appealed the verdict stating that an ink pen could not be a dangerous instrument as required in the escape and the armed criminal action charges. The court defined a "dangerous instrument" as an object not designed to be used as a weapon and may have a normal function under ordinary circumstances. The determining factor on whether the object is a dangerous instrument is whether the object can kill or seriously injure someone under the circumstances for which it is being used. Under the circumstances of this case the court found that the ink pen was being used as a dangerous instrument when the defendant held it up to the guard's throat and he was threatening to kill the guard unless he was allowed to leave the detention center. The defendant also appealed the kidnapping charge, stating that he had not used the guard as a hostage and a shield. The court found that he had kidnapped the guard - he held her against her will, he handcuffed her, and he negotiated with other guards for her life. The court affirmed the conviction and sentencing from the trial court.
Source: State v. Arnold, #27406, (Mo. App. S.D. 03/05/2007)
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