Monjaras

During a robbery committed late at night in the lighted parking lot of an apartment complex, defendant Jerome Joshua Monjaras told the female victim, “Bitch, give me your purse.” He then pulled up his shirt and displayed the handle of a black pistol tucked in his waistband. After the victim turned over her wallet, defendant’s accomplice pressed something against the victim’s back and took her purse from her shoulder.

A jury convicted defendant of robbery and found he personally used a firearm within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022.53, subdivision (b), which applies to “any device, designed to be used as a weapon, from which is expelled through a barrel, a projectile by the force of any explosion or other form of combustion.” (Pen. Code, § 12001, subd. (b); farther section references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise specified.) He received a term of 10 years for the firearm use enhancement, consecutive to the term imposed for the robbery.

On appeal, defendant raises a contention that we thought had been put to rest but has resurfaced in a number of appeals before this court. Pointing out that the victim could not say whether the pistol in defendant’s…