Woman Stabs Teddy Bear, Faces Felony Assault Charge
A Wyoming woman has been charged with felony assault and battery after stabbing a human-sized teddy bear.
Carly Marra of Casper is accused of being less than cuddly when she allegedly stabbed the 5-foot-tall teddy bear with a kitchen knife during a fight with her boyfriend, reports the Casper Star-Tribune.
Could Marra be facing prison for attempted bear-icide?
Assault Was No Teddy Bear Picnic
Marra's alleged assault on her teddy began as an argument with her boyfriend, the father of her 16-month-old child. The Star-Tribune reports that the two were allegedly squabbling over relationship issues when Marra grabbed the bear -- a gift from her beau -- and stabbed it, exclaiming, "I wish this was you!"
In Wyoming, a person can be found guilty of aggravated assault if he or she threatens to use a drawn deadly weapon on another person. Unless this threat is made in self-defense, defense of property, or defense of another, it is a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison.
Although the bear probably didn't enjoy being stabbed, the real worry for Marra is that she allegedly threatened her boyfriend with a deadly weapon -- the kitchen knife. If the proxy attack on her furry friend wasn't enough evidence of Marra's intent, she also allegedly said, "I'm going to stab you" while wielding the knife and reaching for the bear, reports the Star-Tribune.
Build-a-Battery
Marra is also accused of biting McAlexander on the bicep and "punch[ing], elbow[ing], and kick[ing]" him in the face and groin. All of these strikes could be classified as criminal battery offenses. To complicate matters, her boyfriend is also alleged to have wrestled with and even stabbed Marra during the fight.
So Marra may have a claim for self-defense if she believed her boyfriend was trying to harm her during the scuffle, but there's another issue that might come to... bear: Both battery and assault require that the defendant have a specific intent (i.e., to cause fear of injury or to cause injury), but Marra may have been too intoxicated to form that intent.
According to the Star-Tribune, police found pot and liquid THC (the psychoactive chemical in pot) in Marra's apartment, which could potentially go toward negating her required intent under Wyoming law. In other words, she could have been so blazed she thought she was threatening the actual teddy bear and not her boyfriend.
It will be left for a jury to decide if this argument is bearable.
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