Commonwealth v. Powell

Walter Powell (defendant) robbed a convenience store cashier, Theresa Campbell, claiming he had a gun and would shoot her while patting an object under his jacket that appeared gun-shaped; police later recovered a wooden replica double-barrel shotgun near the store, which Campbell identified as Powell's. Powell was convicted of armed robbery after the jury was instructed that a replica weapon counts as a dangerous weapon if the victim reasonably believed it was real and capable of causing serious injury or death; he appealed that instruction.