A sword stuffed in a Regina man's pants is not a concealed weapon, a Saskatchewan appeals court judge has ruled.

On July 18, 2009, Regina police went to a local recycling depot after a complaint that Teran Darcy Laplante was seen with a large object resembling a sword concealed in his pants.

"They saw the accused walking with an older female," said the court judgment issued by Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench Justice Janet McMurtry.

"One of the officers asked the accused to stop and place his hands on his head. The accused did not comply. He appeared to be getting ready to run. The officer drew his firearm and again instructed the accused to place his hands on his head. This time, the accused complied as instructed. He slowly lay on the ground, on his stomach, with his hands out to his sides."

When Laplante was searched, police found a black handled sword in a sheath along with a full can of beer. He also appeared to be drunk, police said.

Laplante was charged with carrying a concealed weapon but was later found not guilty when the trial judge said the decorative sword did not constitute a weapon as defined in the Criminal Code.

The Crown appealed. In a Feb. 4 ruling, Judge McMurtry upheld the acquittal.

Laplante had explained at trial he bought the sword from an acquaintance named "Froggy" for $10 and that he had no special plan for it other than to maybe hang it on his wall or mount it above a TV. Since Laplante had no bag or backpack to carry the sword he tucked it into his shorts.

At trial, Duane Maguire, a deputy sheriff, testified that as a teenager, he belonged to an organization called the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group that studied and re-enacted medieval battles.

Maguire said the sword was a decorative copy of a samurai sword that could be purchased at a variety of local retailers and suggested that while the sword’s steel blade did not have an edge, it could be sharpened with effort.

McMurtry said the onus was on the Crown to prove the sword was a weapon and she agreed with the ruling of the original judge that in this case there was reasonable doubt that the sword was designed to be used as a weapon.