People v. Cory

In People v. Cory (1984) 157 Cal. App. 3d 1094, the defendant was charged with personal use of a firearm under sections 1203.06 and 12022.5. As here, the jury was instructed pursuant to CALJIC No. 17.19 but the verdict form referenced only section 1203.06. (Cory, at p. 1102.) The court held that the jury's function was to determine whether the facts necessary to support a firearm use finding were proven and that it was unnecessary to set forth the statutes in the verdict. "The jury's function was to find whether the facts necessary for conviction had been proven, by assessment of the evidence admitted at trial in light of the court's instructions defining the types and quanta of facts necessary for conviction. The verdict, culminating this process, was the jury's statement whether it had or had not found those facts. There was no need in this fact-finding process for enumeration in the verdict of the statutes that defined the facts to be found or prescribed their legal effects. Correspondingly, section 1158a prescribes an appropriate form of verdict concerning firearm use under section 12022.5 which does not include any reference to the statute. Section 1158a, subdivision (b) is thus a legislative confirmation that the type of finding appellant here claims was necessary was unnecessary, and conversely that the reference to another statute, to which appellant objects, was surplusage." ( Id. at pp. 1102-1103.)