Can a conspiracy to commit a crime be punished separately from the crime itself?

Section 654, subdivision (a) admonishes that an act punishable in different ways by different provisions of law "shall be punished under the provision that provides for the longest potential term of imprisonment, but in no case shall the act . . . be punished under more than one provision." The statute prohibits separate punishment for conspiracy to commit a crime and for the crime itself if the conspiracy contemplated " 'only the act performed in the substantive offense [citations], or when the substantive offenses are the means by which the conspiracy is carried out [citation].' " (People v. Vargas (2001) 91 Cal.App.4th 506, 571.) Thus, section 654 bars separate punishment for a conspiracy

Page 3