Opinion ID: 844251
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Asserted erroneous instruction regarding the shank incident

Text: On February 5, 1997, during a search of defendant's cell at the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside County, a correctional officer discovered a metal shank, approximately nine inches long, in between the ceiling and a light fixture. The shank could be pulled out of the space by pulling on the attached string. The parties stipulated that when the search was conducted, defendant was the only person housed in the cell, that he had lived there for about six months, and that other inmates previously had been housed in the cell. The cells were searched at least once a week, and were inspected more frequently if there was a reason to search. Correctional officers routinely searched the light fixtures when conducting cell searches. Defendant contends the trial court erred by failing to instruct jurors on the knowledge element of the crime of possession of a weapon by a prisoner, a violation of section 4502. (See, e.g., People v. Strunk (1995) 31 Cal.App.4th 265, 272 [36 Cal.Rptr.2d 868].) He further urges the court was obliged to instruct, under CALJIC No. 2.01, that if the evidence reasonably supported an inference defendant did not knowingly possess the shank, the jury must so find. In both instances, defendant demonstrates no prejudicial error. Here, the trial court instructed the jury regarding the section 4502 violation as follows: Every person who while . . . confined in, while being conveyed to or from any penal institution, or while under the custody of officials, or officers or employees of any penal institution, possesses or carries upon his person or has under his custody and control any instrument or weapon, commonly known as a shank, is guilty of violation of Penal Code Section 4502, a crime. [¶] In order to prove this crime, each of the following elements must be proved: [¶] 1. A person was confined in or being conveyed to or from any penal institution or under the custody of officials, officers or employees of a penal institution. And 2. while so confined, being conveyed or under that custody, possessed or carried upon his person or under his custody or control a weapon known as a `shank.'  The court also provided the general intent instruction, CALJIC No. 3.30: In the crimes of Battery, possession of a concealed firearm, and possession of a weapon by a prisoner, there must exist a union or joint operation of act or conduct and general criminal intent. General criminal intent does not require an intent to violate the law. When a person intentionally does that which the law declares to be a crime, [he] [she] is acting with general criminal intent, even though [he] [she] may not know that [his] [her] act or conduct is unlawful. Any error regarding the failure to instruct the jury on the knowledge requirement was thus harmless. Manifestly, if the jury concluded that defendant intentionally possessed the shank, it necessarily concluded that he knowingly possessed it. Equally harmless was any error in failing to instruct, under CALJIC No. 2.01, that if the evidence was reasonably susceptible of an inference that defendant lacked knowledge of the shank, the jury must accept that interpretation. In light of the evidence that defendant's cell, particularly including the light fixture, had been frequently searched since defendant became the cell's sole occupant, no reasonable jury would infer that he was unaware of the shank's placement there.