Evans

Defendant appeals from a judgment entered on a jury verdict finding him guilty of possession of a sharp instrument by a state prison inmate (Pen. Code, § 4502) and from the order denying his motion for a new trial. He contends that the trial court committed prejudicial error by refusing to give his proffered instructions, indicating that he had obtained possession of the weapon under such threat and fear for his life that he could not have possession “knowingly” as required by the statute, and by excluding evidence of threats made against his life.

As there are no contentions concerning the sufficiency of the evidence, a summary of the pertinent facts, viewed most favorably to the judgment, will suffice. On January 20, 1968, defendant was an inmate at the California Medical Facility at Vacaville. On that date, Ray Lee Howard, a recently arrived black inmate of the institution, had a conversation with defendant about defendant’s argument with another black inmate, one Jesse Hicks (hereafter Hicks), and was shown a knife by defendant. On the morning of January 24, 1968, sometime before 6 a.m., when Hicks and Daniel Mason, another black inmate, were having breakfast in the…