State v. Nero

The robbery statute provides in part that “[rjobbery is a crime of the second degree, except that it is a crime of the first degree if in the course of committing the theft the actor ... threatens the immediate use of a deadly weapon.” N.J.S.A. 2C:15-1(b). The simulated use of a deadly weapon also “can provide a sufficient factual basis for conviction of first-degree robbery” when there is “[a]n unequivocal or unambiguous simulation of a weapon possessed, as well as an ambiguous or equivocal gesture coupled with threatening words that complete the impression of a concealed weapon[.]” State v.…