Can a defendant be convicted of a more than one criminal act under section 654 of the California Criminal Code?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Fernandez, F076383 (Cal. App. 2019):

"Case law has expanded the meaning of section 654 to apply to more than one criminal act when there is a course of conduct that violates more than one statute but nevertheless constitutes an indivisible transaction. [Citation.] 'Section 654 precludes multiple punishment for a single act or indivisible course of conduct punishable under more than one criminal statute. Whether a course of conduct is divisible and therefore gives rise to more than one act within the meaning of section 654 depends on the "intent and objective" of the actor. [Citation.] If all of the offenses are incident to one objective, the court may punish the defendant for any one of the offenses, but not more than one. [Citation.] If, however, the defendant had multiple or simultaneous objectives, independent of and not merely incidental to each other, the defendant may be punished for each violation committed in pursuit of each objective even though the violations shared common acts or were parts of an otherwise indivisible course of conduct.' " (People v. Hairston (2009) 174 Cal.App.4th 231, 240.) Section 654 does not allow the court to impose concurrent or consecutive terms. (People v. Deloza (1998) 18 Cal.4th 585, 592.)

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