California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Rich, A148091 (Cal. App. 2018):
Section 654 bars multiple punishments for " 'a course of conduct which violated more than one statute but nevertheless constituted an indivisible transaction.' " (People v. Wynn (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1210, 1214 (Wynn).) " 'Whether a course of criminal 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. If all of the offenses were incident to one objective, the defendant may be punished for any one of such offenses but not for more than one.' " (People v. Kwok (1998) 63 Cal.App.4th 1236, 1253.) " 'If [a] defendant harbored "multiple criminal objectives," which were independent of and not merely incidental to each other, he may be punished for each statutory violation committed in pursuit of each objective, "even though the violations shared common acts or were parts of an otherwise indivisible course of conduct." ' " (Wynn, supra, 184 Cal.App.4th at p. 1215.) Section 654 rulings are reviewed for substantial evidence, and the court has " 'broad latitude in making [these] determination[s].' " (Ibid.)
The above passage should not be considered legal advice. Reliable answers to complex legal questions require comprehensive research memos. To learn more visit www.alexi.com.