Opinion ID: 2625266
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Relevant Statutes and Jury Instructions

Text: As noted ante, section 186.22(a) provides that [a]ny person who actively participates in any criminal street gang with knowledge that its members engage in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity, and who willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, shall be punished either for a misdemeanor or for a felony. (Italics added.) With regard to the substantive offense of active participation in a criminal street gang charged in count 5 (§ 186.22(a)), the trial court instructed the jury, in part, that [f]elonious criminal conduct includes carrying a loaded firearm in a public place by a gang member ... or ... carrying a concealed firearm by a gang member. [5] (Italics added.) Carrying a loaded firearm in a public place is generally a misdemeanor. (§ 12031, subd. (a)(1), (2)(G).) The crime elevates to a felony if certain conditions are met. One such condition is [w]here the person is an active participant in a criminal street gang, as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 186.22.... (§ 12031(a)(2)(C).) With regard to the felony loaded-firearm offense charged in count 1 (§ 12031(a)(2)(C)), the prosecution submitted, and the trial court gave, a modified version of CALJIC No. 12.54.1, in relevant part, as follows: Every person who, with knowledge of its presence, unlawfully carries a loaded firearm on his person while in any public place and that person is an active participant in a criminal street gang, and willfully promotes, furthers, or assists in any felonious criminal conduct by members of that gang, is guilty of the violation of Penal Code section 12031, subdivision (a)(2)(C), which is a crime. [¶] ... [¶] In this instruction, the term `active participant' means that the person must have a relationship with the criminal street gang that is more than in name only, passive, inactive, or purely technical. [¶] Felonious criminal conduct, the term here includes possession of a loaded or concealed firearm. ... (Italics added.) The trial court then instructed the jury, that, in order to prove the felony offense of carrying a loaded firearm in public, each of the following elements must be proved: Number one, a person carried a loaded firearm on his person while on a public street or in a public place. Number two, the person had knowledge of the presence of the firearm and number three, at the time the person was an active participant in a criminal street gang. Number four, the members of that gang engaged in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity. Number five, the person knew that the gang members engaged in or have engaged in a pattern of criminal gang activity. And number six, that the person either directly and actively committed or aided and abetted members of that gang in committing the crime[] of carrying a loaded firearm in public while being a gang member (Italics added.) The trial court then reiterated that [f]elonious criminal conduct includes carrying a loaded firearm in public by a gang member.