People v. Scarbrough CA3

BACKGROUND

One night in September 2020, a police officer conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle defendant was driving. After lying to the officer about his name and admitting that he did not have a driver’s license, defendant later admitted his true name and claimed he provided a false name because he thought there was a warrant for his arrest. During a search, the officer found defendant had a knife, the possession of which defendant admitted he knew was unlawful. The officer also found over seven grams of a substance that appeared to be heroin, but which defendant said was “ ‘fake heroin’ ” that he intended to sell as real heroin. The People charged defendant with carrying a dirk or dagger (Pen. Code, § 21310 -- count 1),1 misdemeanor giving false information to a police officer (§ 148.9, subd. (a) -- count 2), and misdemeanor possession for distribution of an imitation controlled substance (Health & Saf. Code, § 109575 -- count 3). Defendant pleaded no contest to counts 1 and 2 and the trial court dismissed count 3. In connection with the plea, defendant read, initialed, and signed a plea form. Among other things, he initialed the following paragraph of the plea form:…