People v. Eaton CA3

BACKGROUND

We take the facts from the record of defendant’s most recent conviction. (People v. Trujillo (2006) 40 Cal.4th 165, 180-181.) A police officer testified at trial that he searched defendant’s pockets when he arrested him on June 7, 1995, discovering several baggies containing methamphetamine, a pouch with a hypodermic syringe, and a knife with a “five, almost a six-inch blade.” The officer said the blade poked out of defendant’s pants pocket but was concealed by an oversized shirt. A jury found defendant guilty of possessing methamphetamine and cocaine and also of violating section 12020, subdivision (a), by “carrying concealed upon his person a dirk or dagger.” The trial court instructed the jury that the words dirk and dagger are synonyms referring to “any knife or other instrument with or without a handguard that is primarily designed or constructed to be a stabbing instrument designed to inflict great bodily injury or death.” The trial court determined that defendant had two prior felony convictions (for a robbery in 1986 and for firing a weapon at a vehicle in 1992) and that his sentence was subject to the “three strikes” provisions of sections 667 and 1170.12. The…