Does section 654 of the California Criminal Code prohibit multiple punishment for a single act or omission?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Rincon, E053475 (Cal. App. 2013):

"'[S]ection 654 precludes multiple punishment for a single act or omission, or an indivisible course of conduct.' [Citation.] '"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 not for more than one." [Citation.]' [Citation.]" (People v. Lopez (2011) 198 Cal.App.4th 698, 717.) "Under section 654, a course of conduct divisible in time, though directed to one objective, may give rise to multiple convictions and multiple punishment 'where the offenses are temporally separated in such a way as to afford the defendant opportunity to reflect and renew his or her intent before committing the next one, thereby aggravating the violation of public security or policy already undertaken.' [Citation.]" (Id. at pp. 717-718.)

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We review the court's explicit or implicit factual resolutions concerning the application of section 654 for substantial evidence. (People v. McCoy (2012) 208 Cal.App.4th 1333, 1338.) "[W]e consider the evidence in the light most favorable to respondent and presume the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence. [Citation.]" (People v. Martin (2005) 133 Cal.App.4th 776, 781.)

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