California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Donohoe, 19 Cal.Rptr. 454, 200 Cal.App.2d 17 (Cal. App. 1962):
Our determination of this question is governed by the criteria set forth in Neal v. State of California, 55 Cal.2d 11, 9 Cal.Rptr. 607, 357 P.2d 839: 'Punishment for two offenses arising from the same act is prohibited by the constitutional and common law rule against multiple punishment for necessarily included offenses (People v. Kehoe, 33 Cal.2d 711, 713, 204 P.2d 321, 322) and by Penal Code section 654, which provides that 'an act or omission which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this code may be punishable under either of such provisions, but in no case can it be punished under more than one. [Footnote omitted.]' * * * 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.' (Pp. 18, 19 of 55 Cal.2d at p. 611 of 9 Cal.Rptr., at page 843 of 357 P.2d.)
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.