GUILDERLAND — A hefty sentence hand down June 30 for a 15-year-old male leads to questions on the difference between a pocket knife and a weapon and on what age can someone can purchase such an item.

Jallah McCall, 15, was sentenced to three to six years in state prison by Albany County Court Judge Thomas A. Breslin, for a December, 2005, slashing in the parking lot of Crossgates Mall, according to the Albany County District Attorney’s Office. McCall, who was 14 at the time, was arrested by Guilderland Police for slashing another man in the face at the mall’s bus stop, causing severe lacerations.

McCall pleaded guilty to one count of first-degree assault, a class B felony. In pleading guilty to the charge, McCall waived his youthful offender status and was tried as an adult.
In a statement released by District Attorney David Soares’s office, McCall alledgedly purchased a knife at Crossgates Mall, and, during an argument with his victim, McCall slashed another man’s face, causing "permanent scarring, swelling, and bruising."
"I saw the lacerations, the injuries were pretty horrific," said Soares’s spokeswoman Rachel McEneny.

Assistant District Attorney Shannon Sarfoh told The Enterprise that the store where McCall actually purchased the knife could not be substantiated, but that she believed he did not produce identification to purchase the knife.
Sarfoh described the knife as a "hunting-type folding knife."
Soares’s said in the release that he was concerned that a 14-year-old purchased a "weapon" in Crossgates Mall, and said, "This violent act has left one youth’s face scarred and the other sentenced to spend a great deal of time in state prison."

There is no specific New York State Law banning minors from purchasing pocket knives.