EXPERT WITNESS SERVICES Page 3 of 4
I have been retained by attorneys and police departments in
California, Florida, Illinois, Idaho, Iowa, Maryland, New York,
North Carolina, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and elsewhere to
research, identify, and in some cases appraise, knives or parts
of knives both in civil cases and in criminal cases ranging from
illegal possession or concealment to receiving stolen property to
homicide. In several of these cases I have testified in court as
an expert witness on knives. These are some of the cases.
GO BACK TO PAGE 1 of Knife-Related Legal Cases
GO BACK TO PAGE 2 of Knife-Related Legal Cases
SKIP TO
PAGE 4 of Knife-Related Legal Cases
Return to BERNARD LEVINE'S Knife-Related LINKS Page
Go to my STATE KNIFE LAWS links page
Go to BERNARD LEVINE's
BizCard page
LEGAL CASES
LISTED IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER
CORVALLIS, BENTON COUNTY, OREGON; May 1993
State of Oregon vs. Wieland, Oregon 163.005 (Criminal Homicide)
Client: Kenneth A. Osher, Chief Deputy District Attorney
Defendant Wieland was arrested for the 1987 murder of his wife.
A rusty knife was recovered from inside a drain pipe near the
Wieland residence. I examined the knife, identified it, and
provided investigators with a catalog picture of the knife when
new. When and if this case goes to trial, I will be called to
testify about the knife.
EUGENE, LANE COUNTY, OREGON; October 8, 1993
State of Oregon vs. Coates
Oregon POO 166.240 (illegal concealed weapon)
Client: Marie Desmond, Public Defender Services of Lane County, Inc.
Defendant Coates presented himself at the Lane County Jail with a
knife concealed in his backpack. He was then arrested for
carrying an illegal concealed weapon (dirk or dagger). I
examined a photograph of the knife in question, and determined it
to be small Chilean machete, and therefore not a dirk or dagger.
However defendant Coates failed to appear at trial, so this case
is still pending.
BALTIMORE CITY AND COUNTY, MARYLAND; March 3, October 22, 1993
Glover v. Ampak, Inc. et al., United States District
Court for the District of Maryland Civil No. L-92-1220
Clients: John M. G. Murphy, Ober Kaler Grimes & Shriver, Attorneys;
Alan Hilliard Legum,
P.A., Attorney
Representing: Mohammed A. Aslam, AMPAK, Inc., and Knives & Things.
Alleged Trademark Infringement. According to my client's
client
(Aslam), who is a manufacturer and importer of Pakistani cutlery,
he had sold knives decorated with a picture of a whitetail deer
head and the words WHITETAIL HUNTER to Glover, a retailer in
Mississippi, over a period of several years. Glover had fallen
substantially behind in his payments, so Aslam had diverted some
of this "Whitetail" marked merchandise to other customers.
Glover had meanwhile registered "Whitetail" and a deer head
picture as trademarks, and sued Aslam for trademark infringement.
I was retained by Aslam's first attorney (Mr. Murphy) to research
prior use on cutlery of the word "whitetail" and of pictures of
deer: as trademarks, as model designators, and as decoration.
I
prepared a detailed report on this topic, citing several examples.
Then I was retained by Aslam's second attorney (Mr. Legum) to
testify at the trial of this case in Baltimore, October 22, 1993.
This case was eventually decided in favor of plaintiff Glover.
BOISE, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO; March 1994
Cutlery Shoppe, Inc. v. Tom and Linda Criner, et al., United States
District Court for the District
of Idaho, CIV 92-0330-S-EJL
Clients: Bradlee R. Frazer, Elam & Burke, Attorneys
Mark Kuga, Willamette Management
Associates, Portland Oregon
Representing: Cutlery Shoppe, Inc. (Jeff and Shereen Loffer)
Alleged Copyright Infringement. Defendants Criner (dba
Criner's
Cutlery Shop) published a mail-order cutlery catalog alleged to
infringe substantially on five copyrighted catalogs published by
plaintiff Cutlery Shoppe, Inc., in a manner likely to confuse
potential customers. I was retained by plaintiff's attorney to
examine the similar features in the two firms' catalogs, and to
compare them to features in other contemporary cutlery mail
order catalogs. However, the judge granted defendant's summary
motion for dismissal before I was called upon to testify.
URBANA, CHAMPAIGN COUNTY, ILLINOIS; June 1994
Homicide
Client: Investigator David de Jong, Urbana Police Department
Inv. de Jong inquired about two knives: an
evidence knife
recovered from the scene of a 1984 homicide, in which an arrest
is imminent, and a superficially similar non-evidence knife.
Any
markings on the evidence knife had rusted away. He wanted to
learn if the date of manufacture of the evidence knife could be
precisely determined. Unfortunately, both of the knives were
cheap promotional hunting knives of a type that has been imported
to the U.S. and widely sold since the 1950s. Many contract
manufacturers in Solingen, Germany, made and still make similar
knives, and the design was also made in Japan.
SANTA BARBARA, SANTA BARBARA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA; March 7, 1995
People vs. Claudio
Client: Craig Stewart, Investigator
Client requested information on the knife brand SHARP TM
STAINLESS 420 TAIWAN. I reported back that this is a house brand
of K Mart Corporation.
GULFPORT, HARRISON COUNTY, MISSISSIPPI; March 16, 1995
Section 97-37-1. Deadly weapons.
Client: Stephen Maggio, Attorney
Mr. Maggio's client had been arrested for violating
this
provision of the state's deadly weapons statute: "Any person who
carries, concealed in whole or in part, any bowie knife, dirk
knife, butcher knife, switchblade knife... shall upon conviction
be punished..." His client had been wearing a "push dagger" in a
belt sheath. I wrote to him that "push dagger" is a recent term
for a type of knife that was called a "dirk knife" in the 1910s,
when the statute was drafted, so in my opinion the law did apply
to this knife. The only remaining question was whether the knife
was "concealed in whole or in part," a question that is usually a
matter of case law, and that I am not qualified to address.
READING, BERKS COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA; March 16, 1995
Commonwealth vs. Walter Lojeski, C.S.A. 18.908. Prohibited
offensive weapons.
Client: Evan Nappen, Attorney, Eatontown, New Jersey
Undercover Pennsylvania state troopers had made a number
arrests at area gun shows, of individuals selling certain
switchblade knives and antique firearms. Mr. Lojeski was arrested
for selling switchblade knives to the same plain clothes trooper
at three different shows. The trooper had described himself as a
"collector." In telephone conversation, I suggested to Mr. Nappen
that he cite section (b) of C.S.A. 18.908, "Exception.--It is a
defense under this section for the defendant to prove by a
preponderance of evidence that he possessed or dealt with the
weapon solely as a curio..." I made myself available to testify,
but eventually all charges against Mr. Lojeski were dropped.
EUGENE, LANE COUNTY, OREGON; September 8, 1995
State of Oregon vs. Patrick Brandon Collins; Dist. 95-2061
Oregon POO 166.240 (illegal concealed weapon)
Client: Rush Hoag, Lane County Public Defenders
Defendant Collins was arrested for alleged
spousal abuse in
January 1995. When arrested he was found to have a butterfly
knife in his back bluejeans pocket. Under Oregon law it is "a
Class B Misdemeanor to carry "concealed upon the person any knife
having a blade that projects or swings into position by force of
a spring or by centrifugal force and commonly known as a
switchblade knife, any dirk, dagger, ice pick, slung shot, metal
knuckles, or any similar instrument by the use of which injury
could be inflicted..."
Collins was charged with concealed carry of
a switchblade
knife. I was subpoenaed by the defense, and was prepared to
testify that a butterfly knife is not a switchblade. However
before I was called, one of the arresting officers said
essentially the same thing under cross-examination, so Judge
Lauren Holland directed that the defendant be acquitted of this
charge.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK; February 19-27, 1996; June-July 1997
In re Trademark Application of Victorinox A.G. and Wenger, S.A.,
Serial No.: 74/600,279 Filed November 17, 1994
Clients: Philip T. Shannon, attorney (Pennie & Edmonds)
Jonathan Moskin, attorney
(Pennie & Edmonds)
Andrew P. Baxley,
trademark attorney
At issue was the registration of the mark "SWISS
ARMY" on
multi-blade knives, in defense of a challenge to this
registration by Arrow Import Co., an importer of knives made in
China. I prepared a declaration on the history of joint exclusive
use of the SWISS ARMY mark by both Victorinox and Wenger of
Switzerland.
[September 1998, I lined up three knife history
experts in
Great Britain, to be deposed in related litigation there.]
Forschner Group v Arrow Trading March 1996
BOISE, ADA COUNTY, IDAHO; March 11, 1996
Immigration and Naturalization Service in re: Chris Reeve
Client: John T. Riely, Attorney, Washington, D.C.
Mr. Reeve, a knifemaker and knife manufacturer in Boise, and
an
immigrant from South Africa, had applied for permanent resident
status. His attorney asked me to draft a letter setting forth my
views of knifemaking as an art, and of Mr. Reeve as a knifemaker,
in support of his application. The application was approved.
GO TO PAGE 4 of Knife-Related Legal Cases
GO BACK TO PAGE 1 of Knife-Related Legal Cases
GO BACK TO PAGE 2 of Knife-Related Legal Cases
Return to BERNARD LEVINE'S Knife-Related LINKS Page
Go to my STATE KNIFE LAWS links page
Go to BERNARD LEVINE's BizCard page
BERNARD LEVINE * PO BOX 2404 * EUGENE OREGON 97402 * 541-484-0294