Colorado law: Banjos be deadly
Everyone knows that banjos are awesome. But are they also deadly? According to Colorado law, that depends on how you use them.
A Flickr photo Instrument? Or instrument of death?
If you use your banjo for, say, pickin', you're all good. If you use it for hittin', such as in the case of 33-year-old Joseph Stancato, you're not.
Stancato, of Denver, hit another man upside the head with his banjo on New Year's Eve after getting into a fight with the man and the man's friend at an Aspen bus stop. He was charged with assault and, according to a widely circulated Associated Press story that tells of a judge's ruling allowing Stancato to tour with his band while awaiting his next court date, he could face prison time because a banjo is considered a "deadly weapon" under Colorado law.
We here at Westword wanted more proof of that fact, so we e-mailed the Aspen police to ask about the law.
Community relations Officer Stephanie Dasaro quoted it for us.
Under Colorado Revised Statutes, a "deadly weapon" is defined as any of the following which in the manner it is used or intended to be used is capable of producing death or serious bodily injury: I) firearm, loaded or unloaded, II) knife, III) a bludgeon; or IV) any other weapon, device, instrument, material, or substance.
See? It says the word instrument. And that's too bad for Stancato.
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