CALCRIM No. 2502

The defendant is charged [in Count] with unlawfully (possessing

in a vehicle/carrying on (his/her) person/selling/offering or exposing for

sale/giving/lending/transferring) a switchblade knife [in violation of Penal

Code section 21510].

To prove that the defendant is guilty of this crime, the People must

prove that:

1. The defendant (possessed in the (passenger’s/ [or] driver’s) area

of a motor vehicle in a (public place/place open to the public)/

carried on (his/her) person/sold/offered or exposed for sale/gave/

lent/transferred) a switchblade knife [to another person];

2. The blade of the knife was two or more inches long;

3. The defendant knew that (he/she) (possessed/carried/sold/offered

or exposed for sale/gave/lent/transferred) it [to another person];

[AND]

4. The defendant knew that it had the characteristics of a

switchblade(;/.)

<Give element 5 only if defendant is charged with offering or exposing

for sale.>

[AND

5. The defendant intended to sell it.]

A switchblade knife is a knife that looks like a pocketknife and has a

blade that can be released automatically by a flick of a button, pressure

on the handle, flip of the wrist or other mechanical device, or is released

by the weight of the blade or any other mechanism. A switchblade

includes a spring-blade knife, snap-blade knife, gravity knife, or any

other similar type knife. A switchblade knife does not include a knife that

opens with one hand utilizing thumb pressure applied solely to the blade

of the knife or a thumb stud attached to the blade, if the knife has a

detent or other mechanism that provides resistance that must be

overcome in opening the blade or that biases the blade back toward its

closed position.

[The (passenger’s/ [or] driver’s) area means that part of a motor vehicle

that is designed to carry the (driver/ [and] passengers), including the

interior compartment or space within.]

The People do not have to prove that the defendant used or intended to

use the alleged switchblade knife as a weapon.

[Two or more people may possess something at the same time.]

[A person does not have to actually hold or touch something to possess

it. It is enough if the person has (control over it/ [or] the right to control

it), either personally or through another person.]

[The People allege that the defendant (possessed in a vehicle/carried/sold/

offered or exposed for sale/gave/lent/transferred) the following

switchblade knives: <insert description of each knife when

multiple items alleged>. Y ou may not find the defendant guilty unless all

of you agree that the People have proved that the defendant (possessed

in a vehicle/carried/sold/offered or exposed for sale/gave/lent/transferred)

at least one of these knives which was a switchblade and you all agree on

which switchblade knife (he/she) (possessed in a

vehicle/carried/sold/offered or exposed for sale/gave/lent/transferred).]

New January 2006; Revised February 2015