Pls help with concealed weapons charge with a bali

Stress that he was in the house when he had the knife, and they removed him from the house. This may sound like a silly question, but does he always carry the knife in the same jean pocket so as there is a well worn mark indicateing the knife is always carried? The officers may not be that inciteful, but I have seen that type of fact brought into court when a defendant stated he did not know how the knife got in his pocket or the the police planted it there. I am pretty sure in FL the charge will be dropped, but get you facts lined up in your favor. Good luck!
 
He could always have walked into the house and put the bali in his pocket before they called him outside to search him. Even if he had wear on his jeans from the bali, it could have been from carrying the bali at home. :)
 
daleduro said:
Both my boyfriend and I are knife collectors and bali fans. We love to flip them. Last weekend he was arrested at my house for driving on a suspended license and for an FTA. At the time of his arrest he was also charged with carrying a concealed weapon, because he had his favorite bali in his back pocket.

I later read the arrest report and found a couple of problems. In one place the weapons charge stated “an electric weapon or device”. This is just wrong. In the description of what happened they stated he was carrying a “butterfly switch blade knife”. This is also wrong. It is not a switch blade knife and the arresting officer should have known this.

I would like to see them drop this charge based on the discrepancies. For one thing, nearly everybody carries a knife in their pocket. I know I do. For another, this is not an illegal knife in Florida (the blade is 4 inches long and is not doubled-edged), yet they said that it is illegal. He asked then why can you buy them at any flea market around here. Do you think he has a chance to get this dropped?
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Even a moderately competent Public Defender should have no problem double-flushing this one. The District Attorney or his/her delegate (Assistant District Attorney here in MA) will present your boyfriend's knife as evidence, describing how "dangerous" it is.:rolleyes: At this point, defense counsel will ask where the battery compartment is, since it was described as an "electric weapon or device". Since it obviously does not have one, this charge will more than likely be history very quickly. Judges do not appreciate having valuable court time wasted. The second charge, "butterfly switch blade knife", will likely also be dismissed quickly, especially after defense counsel asks the prosecutor to point out the location of the switchblade's activation button. The only thing that he may have a problem with is the driving after suspension charge. He will probably be fined and ordered by the court to settle up with the DMV and get his license back into good standing. Hey, best of luck with this. I will be rooting for you!:)
 
Understandably he is getting pretty nervous about this, especially since he now has to deal with the CCDW. Now I’m curious about the pocket. I’m sure it was a newer pair of jeans without any evidence of having carried a knife. I have no idea how inciteful they are going to be. When I bonded him out they said he could be looking at 90 days. I hope not, because that place is overcrowded and he was crammed into an area with a bunch of guys and slept on the floor when they took him in. On a nicer day in the future I’d love to have the knife conversation because I still have lots of questions in general. I have a metal ‘ornament’ on my keychain that looks like a pitbull with pointed ears, a protection for walking in parking lots. Is that a ‘weapon’ that I ‘conceal’ when I put my keys away? Would the Kershaw Scallion and its brother the Shallot be considered pocket knives? Stuff I never batted an eye about before. Thanks everyone for helping. I will post the results of his court appearance, but if you can think of anything else I’m all ears.
 
Does Florida have a law that necessitates you to notify a law enforcement officer that you are carrying a weapon? This could be the only reason the concealed charge would stick.

Other than that you have a right to have any kind of blade in your house that you want. You could have a motorized switchblade Katana as long as it is in your home, but as with firearms, I know you can be charged with concealment if you fail to notify an officer that you have a weapon on your person.

A lot of states do not considering Balisong (butterfly knives ) legal so the dangerous weapon part might also stick if the concealment does.

Anyway, what is important in this case is how the officer searched him, and if the officer asked if he had any weapons.

Typically officers perform what is known as a "Terry Pat" to check for weapons. This is when you pat a subject down on the outside of his clothing. It is required for an officer to ask if he has a weapon, and if he recovers one at this point it is simply to be removed from the subject.

On the other hand, you said they were there on an arrest warrant. The thing about your 4th amendment rights is that they fly out the window when you're being arrested. The officer would not have to conduct the Terry pat, he could simply search at free will, and in doing so would neglect in asking if he has any weapons. If the person being searched fails to report the weapon, they can be hit with concealment charges if that is part of the law in their state.



I don't think it would be difficult to fight, but if there are criminal consequences for failing to notify an officer of the weapon he could still be in trouble. Otherwise I don't think there's any reason you should lose.

Try to find an attorney that you can have a cheap consultation with. They should tell you everything you need to know about your chances, and they're not horrendously expensive. I think the last time I did a consult with an attorney it was $200. Well worth it to have sound legal advice.
 
The officer asked if he had anything in his pockets while they were in the house. Before he could even empty his pockets the officer whipped out the taser and threatened to tase him and hustled him outside and off the property. You'd think he had killed someone and I started to get really ticked. I begged not to tase him because he is a diabetic and his health isn’t all that great. No, they didn’t ask if he had any weapons.

I thought the court date for all this was June 21 but it is June 29. Will this ever end. He did consult with a lawyer. The lawyer said that these charges would cost around $3,000 to defend (ugh) but that in all honesty he wouldn’t advise paying this for that. He said that around here the CCW is a misdemeanor and that people don’t typically do jail time unless it is associated with something a lot worse than an FTA or driving on a suspended license. That he would probably be on parole for a year. I hope he’s right. We’ll see.
 
daleduro said:
The officer asked if he had anything in his pockets while they were in the house. Before he could even empty his pockets the officer whipped out the taser and threatened to tase him and hustled him outside and off the property. You'd think he had killed someone and I started to get really ticked. I begged not to tase him because he is a diabetic and his health isn’t all that great. No, they didn’t ask if he had any weapons.

I thought the court date for all this was June 21 but it is June 29. Will this ever end. He did consult with a lawyer. The lawyer said that these charges would cost around $3,000 to defend (ugh) but that in all honesty he wouldn’t advise paying this for that. He said that around here the CCW is a misdemeanor and that people don’t typically do jail time unless it is associated with something a lot worse than an FTA or driving on a suspended license. That he would probably be on parole for a year. I hope he’s right. We’ll see.
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You may wish to look up the law and the penalties that are possible for breaking it and share the information with your boyfriend. It may be more serious than you think. If the potential penalty for a CCW conviction in Florida is more than one year's imprisonment, it could be a federal disqualifier as far as firearms ownership is concerned. I don't know if your boyfriend owns a gun or eventually would like to own/possess one, but this is something that he should consider. If he becomes federally-prohibited, he will be committing a federal felony if he so much as touches a firearm or a single round of ammunition. Doesn't matter what penalty he actually gets on a CCW conviction; it is the potential penalty that causes federal disqualification. He has a right to a jury trial and should take advantage of it.
 
Yes, we did look up the penalties and fines. Worse case is a year in jail and a $1,000 fine for a first degree misdemeanor which is what the CCW starts out as. Second degree is up to 6 months in jail and a $500 fine. His bond for this charge was $500, which is usually the cost of the fine. Seeing that he wasn’t involved in a grand larceny or anything like that I’m hoping he won’t get the worst case. I just don’t like the way anything was handled, like he was a crazed killer. Today he showed me the marks where the handcuffs cut into his wrists. The jails around here are over crowded and now I can see why. You might get thrown in one for just walking down the street. The more I think about this whole thing the angrier I get, but I have to chill. Neither he nor I have any interest in firearms. We only like knives (even kitchen knives), to flip, to throw, and to look at. And hope to never have to use for self defense. I have a feeling that the court date tomorrow will be like a typical office meeting, to set the date for the next one.
 
PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED ON THE OUTCOME.

i have been a FL LEO, for a while, and a FL knife enthusiast for a LONG TIME. i honestly do not believe they have a case and would not recommend taking any plea they try to offer. it sounds like a totaly BS charge that should be relatively easy to beat.

BTW - to all of you who have mentioned "asking the local PD what is legal" BAD IDEA. ask 10 cops the same question, you'll get atleast 4 different answers. READ THE LAW, do not take any LEO's word for it, not even mine :)
 
Plain and simple, how could he be charged with illegal knife carry when he wasn't in the public domain? I can carry around a three foot sword inside my own house and it's no one's business but mine. Also perfectly legal.

Dave
 
zignal_zero said:
PLEASE KEEP US UPDATED ON THE OUTCOME.

i have been a FL LEO, for a while, and a FL knife enthusiast for a LONG TIME. i honestly do not believe they have a case and would not recommend taking any plea they try to offer. it sounds like a totaly BS charge that should be relatively easy to beat.

BTW - to all of you who have mentioned "asking the local PD what is legal" BAD IDEA. ask 10 cops the same question, you'll get atleast 4 different answers. READ THE LAW, do not take any LEO's word for it, not even mine :)
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Finally these are the types of police we need half of the cop's don't no the laws themselves they just use there own judgment and it's usually not good but they do have to deal with a million different laws well I'm glad to see a good honest cop on the forum :thumbup::D
 
You may remember that my bf got hit with a concealed weapons charge when the cops came to our house and took him outside and frisked him there. He had his favorite balisong in his pocket. Believe me, all we like to do is flip and play with them, nothing else. When they came to the house he asked if they had a warrant and asked what the charges were and all that, and also got charged with resisting arrest, and they took him off in handcuffs. That was not a good day.

After several days in court, the case is closed. He was assigned a public defender and had to pay $50 for that. They worked out a deal where he would plea no contest to the weapons charge and they would drop the resisting arrest charge. The weapons charge is a first degree misdemeanor in Florida. We thought about hiring a lawyer and we did talk to one. He said they don’t usually send you to jail for that unless you have more serious charges along with it, and in all honesty he wouldn’t advise paying a lawyer all that money under the circumstances. That didn’t make it any less nasty. Instead of going to jail he is under supervised parole for 6 months. At the beginning of each month he goes in and that will cost $60. He also has to take 8 hours of anger management (yea he gets a hard on over things sometimes). He also got hit with court costs and a fine which came to $343. They kept the knife, glad it wasn’t an expensive one.

I want to thank everyone who helped me with this and everyone who replied back in June when it all happened. So, the next step for both of us is to get a CWP, and not have this happen again.
 
Sorry about your troubles. Sucks about having to plea to the weapons charge though. Hard to believe Fla is so good about permits and such and these yahoos charged him with concealing a knife AT HIS OWN PLACE.
Good luck with the CWPs. Are you sure this being a weapons charge won't hamper his getting a permit? As I understand it Florida isn't supposed to deny anyone without a felony but:confused:
 
anger management classes seem to be a catch all for many offenders. even if it has no bearing on the case or violations, i think the court just feels better sending people to some form of counseling.

as for the supervision, are you sure it is parole and not probation?
 
I'm glad your boyfriend came out of it as well as could be expected under the circumstances. This whole thing seems like a pretty clear case of "you get the justice you can afford." :-(
 
Thanks Morimotom for the catch, he is on probation and not out on parole. I don't know what I was thinking. Just lots going through my mind.
 
zignal_zero said:
BTW - to all of you who have mentioned "asking the local PD what is legal" BAD IDEA. ask 10 cops the same question, you'll get atleast 4 different answers. READ THE LAW, do not take any LEO's word for it, not even mine :)
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Thank you!!!! I don't want to rip on LEO's here, but many of them have their own interpretation of what is legal. I'm sure that most have so many things to deal with that it really comes down to personal judgment, which can sometimes be unfortunate. Knife laws in this country (along with many other laws) are ridiculous and meant to be confusing, much to the detriment of all of us who are otherwise law abiding citizens.

I urge everyone here to become a member of www.kniferights.org Really, we are all here because of our interest in knives, so let's keep it legal!!

While I certainly feel for the plight of your boyfriend and I do think that his CCDW charge was ludicrous, he utterly failed in his responsibility to show up for his prior court date. Had he been a responsible citizen, none of this would have happened in the first place. Personal responsibility is the first and foremost important quality for all of us to cultivate. Only when we fully accept responsibility for our actions will we truly be free!

Play with knives, and you get cut once in a while!
 
daleduro said:
Thanks Morimotom for the catch, he is on probation and not out on parole. I don't know what I was thinking. Just lots going through my mind.
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understandable.

just wanted to be certain it was probation (community "detention" in lieu of) rather than parole (early release program from prison).
 
daleduro said:
You may remember that my bf got hit with a concealed weapons charge when the cops came to our house and took him outside and frisked him there. He had his favorite balisong in his pocket. Believe me, all we like to do is flip and play with them, nothing else. When they came to the house he asked if they had a warrant and asked what the charges were and all that, and also got charged with resisting arrest, and they took him off in handcuffs. That was not a good day.

After several days in court, the case is closed. He was assigned a public defender and had to pay $50 for that. They worked out a deal where he would plea no contest to the weapons charge and they would drop the resisting arrest charge. The weapons charge is a first degree misdemeanor in Florida. We thought about hiring a lawyer and we did talk to one. He said they don’t usually send you to jail for that unless you have more serious charges along with it, and in all honesty he wouldn’t advise paying a lawyer all that money under the circumstances. That didn’t make it any less nasty. Instead of going to jail he is under supervised parole for 6 months. At the beginning of each month he goes in and that will cost $60. He also has to take 8 hours of anger management (yea he gets a hard on over things sometimes). He also got hit with court costs and a fine which came to $343. They kept the knife, glad it wasn’t an expensive one.

I want to thank everyone who helped me with this and everyone who replied back in June when it all happened. So, the next step for both of us is to get a CWP, and not have this happen again.
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Well, your boyfriend is out $753 in cash and now has a weapons conviction on his record. Just goes to prove that the criminal justice system is a self-serving money-making machine for the courts and their employees. How about the original charge, for which the cops came to the house to arrest him (driving after suspension)? Did the court order him to settle up with DMV and get his license back into good standing? In my state, Massachusetts, you can be charged for having a weapon on you (even your own home) if you are being arrested on a warrant. Cops use it as an "add-on" charge. After his probation ends, your boyfriend should look into getting his record sealed. A weapons conviction could close doors to employment for him if discovered during a background check. Here in MA, the waiting period is 10 years for misdemeanor convictions and 15 years for felony convictions. He should check Florida laws concerning this.
 
With that weapon charge you can kiss you getting a concealed weapons permit good by. That just put him on the restricted list.
 
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