Curtis McGruder v. Commonwealth of Kentucky

Summary

The court held that a small hatchet does not qualify as a statutory deadly weapon because the statutory definition cannot be expanded by analogy, so the evidence was insufficient to support first-degree burglary. It also held that limiting defense counsel's closing argument about the bar of soap did not deny McGruder a defense because the proposed inference would have shown an intent to commit a crime rather than negated that element. The first-degree burglary conviction was reversed and remanded for possible trial on a lesser degree of burglary, while the receiving-stolen-property conviction and sentence were affirmed.