Court of Appeals rules on what is and is not a knife in Mesa County case

The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that a hatchet can qualify as a knife for the purposes of determining the level of a menacing charge.

In an opinion published this week, the court ruled a judge overseeing a preliminary hearing in Mesa County had improperly determined that a small hatchet allegedly wielded in a menacing case from earlier this year did not qualify as a knife for the purposes of determining felony menacing vs. misdemeanor menacing.

“Multiple dictionaries broadly define the word ‘knife’ as an instrument for cutting, consisting of a blade and a handle. The division concludes that, when considered in the context of the menacing statute, these definitions are broad enough to encompass the weapon used by the defendant. Accordingly, the division reverses the district court