Warning: Variable is used before it has been assigned a value -- best practice?

Warning      3      Variable 'cmd' is used before it has been assigned a value. A null reference exception could result at runtime.      

The line generating this error is in my finally block.  See the snippet below:

It's the IsNothing check generating the warning.

Now that STUPID.  I'm checking for the Nothing condition.

The way I see to suppress the warning message is
Dim cmd as sqlCommand = Nothing

If I say that it is nothing, it doesn't warn me that it COULD be nothing.

Now, these warnings are here for a purpose -- so that if I DO forget to assign a value, the compiler warns me.

How do I suppress spurious warnings without suppressing the warnings I should pay attention to?

Thanks!

Dim cmd As SqlCommand
 
            Try
                    'Do great things w/ cmd
 
            Catch e As Exception
                Throw e
            Finally
                If Not IsNothing(cmd) AndAlso Not IsNothing(cmd.Connection) AndAlso cmd.Connection.State = ConnectionState.Open Then
                    cmd.Connection.Close()
                End If
            End Try

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