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Name: Harrott v. County of Kings
Case #: S055064
Opinion Date: 06/28/2001
Citation: 25 Cal.4th 1138
Summary

An attorney received his fee in a receiving stolen property case in the form of a gun collection, which included a particular rifle in the custody of the Kings County Sheriff’s Department. The department did not assert the rifle was stolen, but refused to deliver it on the ground it was an assault weapon as proscribed by the Roberti-Roos Assault Weapons Control Act of 1989 (AWCA). Interpreting highly technical statutory language, the Court held the rifle was not an “AK series” weapon as prohibited by the AWCA. Essentially, the prohibited weapon must be listed on the Attorney General’s Assault Weapon Identification Guide published in the Code of Regulations. A superior court may not classify a weapon as an assault weapon if it is not on the Attorney General’s list. (4-2).