California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Harris, C071577 (Cal. App. 2014):
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.' [Citations.] On the other hand, if the defendant entertained multiple criminal objectives that were independent and not incidental to each other, he or she 'may be punished for each statutory violation committed in pursuit of each objective' even though the violations were otherwise part of an indivisible course of conduct. [Citation.] ' "The principal inquiry in each case is whether the defendant's criminal intent and objective were single or multiple." [Citation.] "A defendant criminal objective is 'determined from all the circumstances. ....' " ' [Citation.]." (People v. Sok (2010) 181 Cal.App.4th 88, 99.) The trial court's ruling on the applicability of section 654, express or implied, will be affirmed on appeal if supported by substantial evidence. (People v. Bui (2011) 192 Cal.App.4th 1002, 1015.)
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