Break out the bolt cutters: the DCCA holds that bolt cutters are not an "instrument . . . for picking locks" that may be punished under D.C. Code § 22-2501.

In re J.W., No. 12-FS-1771 (October 9, 2014)

Players:  Associate Judges Fisher and Beckwith, Senior Judge Farrell.  Opinion by Judge Fisher.  Trial Judge:  Robert R. Rigsby. 

Facts:   J.W. was adjudicated delinquent of the offense of possessing the implements of a crime, D.C. Code § 22-2501 (2012 Rep.).  He was arrested after being observed by police officers examining a scooter that was chained to a fence.  At the time of the incident – which took place at 3:45 a.m.  in the middle of the summer – he was wearing black ski pants, had a black ski mask perched on the top of his head, and was carrying two-foot-long bolt cutter.

Issue:  Did possession of the bolt cutter under those circumstances violate D.C. Code § 22-2501 (2012 Rep.), which criminalizes the possession of “any instrument, tool, or implement for picking locks or pockets, with the intent to use such instrument, tool, or implement to commit a crime.” 

Held:  No.  “Picking a lock” in this context means “the opening of the lock without the use of the original or duplicate keys and without damage to the lock.”  Therefore the possession of a bolt cutter – a tool more likely to be used to sever the chain or, perhaps, to break the lock – did not violated the statute.  JF.

Read the full opinion here.