Pen. Code, § 1158a · Chapter 4. The Verdict or Finding
Pen. Code, § 1158a
Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
(a) Whenever the fact that a defendant was armed with a weapon either at the time of his commission of the offense or at the time of his arrest, or both, is charged in accordance with section 969c of this code, in any count of the indictment or information to which the defendant has entered a plea of not guilty, the jury, if they find a verdict of guilty of the offense with which the defendant is charged, or of any offense included therein, must also find whether or not the defendant was armed as charged in the count to which the plea of not guilty was entered. The verdict of the jury upon a charge of being armed may be: “We find the charge of being armed contained in the ____ count true,” or “We find the charge of being armed contained in the ____ count not true,” as they find that the defendant was or was not armed as charged in any particular count of the indictment or information. A separate verdict upon the charge of being armed must be returned for each count which alleges that the defendant was armed.
(b) Whenever the fact that a defendant used a firearm is charged in accordance with Section 969d in any count of the indictment or information to which the defendant has entered a plea of not guilty, the jury if they find a verdict of guilty of the offense with which the defendant is charged must also find whether or not the defendant used a firearm as charged in the count to which the plea of not guilty was entered. A verdict of the jury upon a charge of using a firearm may be: “We find the charge of using a firearm contained in the ____ count true,” or “We find the charge of using a firearm contained in the ____ count not true,” as they find that the defendant used or did not use a firearm as charged in any particular count of the indictment or information. A separate verdict upon the charge of using a firearm shall be returned for each count which alleges that defendant used a firearm.
Notes and commentary — not statutory text
History
Amended by Stats. 1972, Ch. 1131, Sec. 2.
Source of truth
- Edition
- As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
- Official file
- https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=PEN§ionNum=1158a.
- Text hash
- sha256 490b9a860c707d12d5b98dd6df318afa8700bdc5985415fa6d6aa54ba5536e52
- Composed by
- compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.