People v. Valdez

DUARTE, J.,

Concurring and Dissenting.—I concur in all parts of the majority opinion except part IV.B., from which I respectfully dissent.

Absent some farfetched hypothetical, under the majority’s broad holding every weapon possession is armed if charged broadly enough. The majority opinion erases the distinction between possession where the weapon is readily accessible to a defendant and possession where it is not. In my view, while both are valid theories of possession, only the first is armed possession. Thus I am compelled to dissent.

The majority writes that because weapon possession “can…