Opinion ID: 2518032
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Possession of a Concealed Weapon

Text: In the second incident, Officer Dattola recovered an open pocketknife from defendant's pants pocket following his arrest. The prosecutor argued the knife was a concealed weapon. Respondent concedes that possession of a pocketknife was insufficient to establish a violation of section 12020 because, at the time the offense was committed, a pocketknife did not fall within the statutory definition of a concealed weapon. (See People v. Bain (1971) 5 Cal.3d 839, 851-852 [97 Cal.Rptr. 684, 489 P.2d 564]; People v. Forrest (1967) 67 Cal.2d 478, 480-481 [62 Cal.Rptr. 766, 432 P.2d 374].) [18] Error in the admission of evidence under factor (b) is reversible only if there is a reasonable possibility it affected the verdict, a standard that is essentially the same as the harmless beyond a reasonable doubt standard of Chapman v. California (1967) 386 U.S. 18, 24 [17 L.Ed.2d 705, 87 S.Ct. 824]. ( People v. Lancaster, supra, 41 Cal.4th at p. 94.) The jury properly heard evidence of defendant's other criminal activity, which included a robbery, a stabbing, an assault with a knife against children, and the robbery and extortion of a jail inmate. There is no reasonable possibility that the jury's penalty decision was improperly affected by this relatively minor incident.