Adrian

Defendant was convicted by a jury of assault with a deadly weapon. (Pen. Code, § 245, subd. (a).) He seeks reversal for refusal of the trial court to give a requested Sanchez instruction that the defendant is entitled to an acquittal if the evidence raises a reasonable doubt of self-defense. (People v. Sanchez (1947) 30 Cal.2d 560 [ 184 Cal.Rptr. 673 ].) We hold that such an instruction must be given upon request whenever the claim of self-defense has been properly tendered and the evidence warrants submitting the issue to the jury. We also hold that, in light of the other instructions, the failure to give the requested instruction was harmless.

I

In the early morning of February 3, 1979, defendant became embroiled in a dispute with the driver of a van parked in front of the Electric Disco in Lodi, during which he inflicted a knife wound on the driver’s right wrist. Defendant’s theory of defense was self-defense and the jury was instructed on the substantive law of the defense. (CALJIC Nos. 5.30, 5.31, 5.50, 5.51, 5.52, 5.53, 5.54, 5.55, 9.07.) The court gave the standard instruction on the prosecution’s burden of persuasion (CALJIC No. 2.90), but denied defendant’s…