Gardner

Defendant appeals from convictions of assault with a deadly weapon by a life prisoner (Pen. Code, § 4500) and possession of a sharp instrument while a prisoner in a state prison (Pen. Code, § 4502).

On August 7, 1973, defendant was an inmate at Deuel Vocational Institution (at Tracy, California) serving a life sentence after conviction of first degree murder. He was housed in a maximum security area and restricted to his cell. Shortly after lunch, as the guards were collecting the serving trays from the cells, he called Officer Peoples to his cell and asked him to give a leftover orange to another inmate across the hall. As Peoples reached for the orange, defendant lunged at him through the bars with a sharpened metal object, stabbing him below the right armpit. Peoples was hospitalized for two days and off work for approximately four weeks.

Defendant admitted the offense in his trial testimony and stated that he considered himself a revolutionary; he explained that he stabbed Officer Peoples to commemorate the George Jackson shootout at San Quentin in 1970 and to show his solidarity with the Black Guerrilla Family, a prisoner organization. He added that if Officer…