Sisneros

We are called upon to determine whether the instrument possessed by defendant was a dirk or dagger. The current version of the statute proscribes only instruments “capable of ready use as a stabbing weapon.” (Pen. Code, § 12020, subd. (c)(24).) We conclude the device, which requires some degree of assembly to be used as a knife, was not so “capable,” and reverse the conviction.

Background

Police stopped defendant, who was riding his bicycle after dark. The officers meant to write him a ticket for inadequate lighting on the bicycle. One of the officers noticed a knife in a sheath hanging from defendant’s belt. This knife is not the subject of this appeal. An ensuing patdown search revealed a cylindrical device approximately four and one-half inches long and one-half inch in diameter. Unscrewing the end of the device exposes a blade, which can then be turned around and screwed onto the cylinder resulting in a knife approximately six and three-fourths inches long, including a blade slightly over two and one-half inches long. The jury found defendant guilty of violating section 12020, subdivision (a), which makes it a crime to carry a dirk or dagger concealed on the…