Court Opinion

ID: 9551759
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 18:58:39.809229+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:24:30.423560
License: Public Domain

*853BURKE, J.
I concur with the majority to the extent that they reverse the convictions of defendant of forcible rape, false imprisonment and oral copulation, for the prosecutor committed misconduct which, in view of the conflicting testimony on these issues, may have been prejudicial to defendant. I dissent, however, from the reversal of defendant’s conviction for possession of a concealed dirk or dagger, for there was no conflict whatever on this issue and the prosecutor’s misconduct could not possibly have affected the jury’s verdict.
The evidence is uncontradicted that at the time of his arrest defendant was carrying, concealed on his person, a knife 11 inches long whose blade was nearly 5 inches long. Although the blade’s sides were dull and not useable for cutting, the knife was particularly appropriate for stabbing, since its tip was sharply pointed, its handguards prevented one’s hand from slipping down the shaft, and the blade could easily be locked into place.
The majority correctly note that Penal Code section 12020 does not define “dirk or dagger.” The cases, however, have noted that “A dagger has been defined as any straight knife to be worn on the person which is capable of inflicting death except what is commonly known as a ‘pocket knife.’ Dirk and dagger are used synonymously and consist of any straight stabbing weapon, as a dirk, stiletto, etc. (Century Diet.) They may consist of any weapon fitted primarily for stabbing.” (Italics added; People v. Ruiz, 88 Cal.App. 502, 504 [263 P. 836]; see People v. Shah, 91 Cal.App.2d 716, 720 [205 P.2d 1081] (holding a 7-inch spring-blade knife to be a dagger because the blade locked in place).) Thus, in People v. Forrest, 67 Cal.2d 478, 480-481 [62 Cal.Rptr. 766, 432 P.2d 374], we stated that dirks or daggers are knives which are designed for stabbing having blades either fixed in an open position or capable of locking into place. Accordingly, in Forrest we concluded that a folding knife whose blade did not lock into place was not a dirk or dagger since “it cannot be held to be a weapon primarily designed for stabbing . . . .” (67 Cal.2d at p. 481.)
As noted above, the knife found in defendant’s possession was obviously designed for stabbing; its dull cutting edge rendered it useless for any other purpose. I would hold, therefore, that the knife was a dirk or dagger as a matter of law, for no reasonable juror could have concluded otherwise. But even if the majority were correct in holding the question to be a factual one, in the instant case the question wó1 presented to the jury under appropriate instructions derived from the foregoing cases, and the jury resolved this assertedly factual question against defendant.
The majority suggest that the prosecutor’s misconduct may have tainted the jury’s determination of the “dirk or dagger” issue. But the misconduct pertained solely to the question of defendant’s guilt on the rape and other *854related counts, a question upon which sharply conflicting testimony existed. The prosecutor’s asserted belief in defendant’s guilt on those counts and the suggestion that defendant may have fabricated a defense to those counts could not have obscured the simple factual question whether, on uncontradicted facts, defendant possessed a dirk or dagger.
Since it is not reasonably probable that the jury would have acquitted defendant on the concealed weapon charge but for the prosecution misconduct (People v. Watson, 46 Cal.2d 818, 836 [299 P.2d 243]), I respectfuly dissent from the reversal of the conviction rendered on that charge.
McComb, J., concurred.