It doesn't matter anymore, but legally, what is a "WMD"?

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA v. JEFFREY FENNELL

No. 888SC1177

COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

95 N.C. App. 140; 382 S.E.2d 231; 1989 N.C. App. LEXIS 674

May 11, 1989, Heard in the Court of Appeals
August 15, 1989, Filed

PRIOR HISTORY: [***1] Appeal by defendant from Samuel T. Currin, Judge. Judgment entered 10 June 1988 in Superior Court, Wayne County.

DISPOSITION: No error.

CASE SUMMARY

PROCEDURAL POSTURE: Defendant appealed a decision of the Superior Court, Wayne County (North Carolina), which convicted him of possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction and sentenced him to five years imprisonment.

OVERVIEW: Defendant was convicted of possession of a weapon of mass death and destruction. Defendant contended that the trial judge erred by: (1) denying his motion to dismiss because the charges abridged his constitutional right to bear arms; (2) denying his motion to dismiss because the state failed to show that the firearm was operable as a weapon of mass death and destruction; and (3) failing to instruct the jury that a weapon which did not fire could not be a weapon of mass death and destruction. On appeal, the court held that defendant received a fair trial, free from error. The court articulated that the state could regulate the length of a particular firearm as long as there was a reasonable purpose for doing so. The court opined that such a restriction did not give the legislature full license to restrict any and all firearms possessed by individuals. The court held that the state would have had to prove operability only if defendant had offered evidence of the weapon's inoperability. The court found that defendant did not offer any evidence that the weapon was inoperable. The court concluded that a sawed-off shotgun qualified as a weapon of mass death and destruction.

OUTCOME: The court held that the defendant received a fair trial, free from error, and affirmed defendant's conviction.