Opinion ID: 1355634
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Assault With a Deadly Weapon

Text: As previously indicated, defendant was charged with robbing three restaurant employees; the jury was instructed on robbery as well as the lesser offense of assault with a deadly weapon (ADW). The jury found defendant robbed two of the employees, and found him guilty of ADW as to the third (Michael Armstrong). The evidence disclosed that defendant, armed with a shotgun, approached Armstrong and directed him to lie on the floor or I'll blow your brains out. Although the other two employees were robbed, no money was taken from Armstrong. (18) Defendant now contends that the ADW count must be set aside because the court did not instruct the jury, sua sponte, on the definition of an assault (CALJIC No. 9.00). That instruction would have advised the jury that assault is an unlawful attempt, coupled with present ability, to apply physical force to another, with the general intent to commit an act which would directly result in such force. ( Ibid. ) According to defendant, a properly instructed jury might have concluded that defendant had no intent to carry out his conditional threat. The People concede that the foregoing sua sponte instruction should have been given. (See People v. Valenzuela (1985) 175 Cal. App.3d 381, 392-393 [222 Cal. Rptr. 405].) They contend, however, that the error was harmless because the assault issues were necessarily resolved by the jury, adversely to defendant, in its other findings. (See People v. Sedeno (1974) 10 Cal.3d 703, 721 [112 Cal. Rptr. 1, 518 P.2d 913].) We disagree. The jury, although not instructed on the elements of assault, was told that it was a general intent crime requiring only proof of an intent to commit the act declared to be unlawful. The jury, in finding ADW, also found that defendant used a firearm during its commission, a finding which, according to the People, would implicitly include a finding that defendant had the present ability to, and in fact attempted to, apply physical force to his victim to prevent his resistance. Defendant points out, however, that we have previously held ADW is not a lesser included offense within the crime of robbery with firearm use, for purposes of requiring an ADW instruction. ( People v. Wolcott (1983) 34 Cal.3d 92, 102 [192 Cal Rptr. 748, 665 P.2d 520].) As Wolcott states, the [firearm use] enhancement does not supply the necessary elements of an attempt to inflict violent injury and present ability to do so. The menacing display of a firearm to intimidate a victim is sufficient to prove use of the firearm under section 12022.5 [citation], but insufficient to prove assault with a deadly weapon [citation]. The use of an unloaded or inoperable gun justifies an enhanced sentence [citation], but ... does not support a conviction for an assault. (Fn. omitted.) Thus, the jury's finding of firearm use necessarily implied nothing more than a menacing display of a weapon. We cannot assume, from the firearm-use finding alone, that the jury further found defendant had the present ability to, and in fact attempted to, apply physical force to his victim. We conclude that the ADW count should be set aside.