Does section 203 of the California Penal Code (causing permanent disability or disfigurement of another human being or depriving another person of a limb, organ or member)?

disabling or deprivation of a "member" of the body) can be read as coextensive with the language of section 205 (causing permanent disability or disfigurement of another human being or depriving another person of a limb, organ or member). However, it is equally arguable that section 205 more broadly penalizes any disfigurement, disability or deprivation of any portion of the body, if the act is committed with the requisite intent and mental state, while section 203 focuses on disfigurement, disability or deprivation of a "member" of the victim's body, defined narrowly. This is how the court perceived the difference between the two statutes in People v. Ferrell (1990) 218 Cal.App.3d 828, [267 Cal.Rptr. 283] : section 205 "broadly prohibits intentionally causing permanent disability or disfigurement ... or depriv[ing] a human being of a limb, organ, or member of his or her body, while the injuries which are the subject of section 203 are more narrowly and precisely defined." ( Id. at p. 835, 267 Cal.Rptr. 283.)⁸ Under the latter reading, scarring to the torso would not qualify as disfigurement of a member of the body. Under that reading, a violation of section 205 could be committed without also committing a violation of section 203. Therefore, in order to determine whether section 203 is a necessarily included lesser offense of section 205, we must resolve the ambiguity in section 203.