Does section 654 of the California Penal Code preclude multiple punishment for a single act or omission under the same statute?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Gonzales, E063783 (Cal. App. 2016):

"Section 654 precludes multiple punishment for a single act or omission, or an indivisible course of conduct." (People v. Deloza (1998) 18 Cal.4th 585, 591.) "Whether a course of criminal conduct is a divisible transaction which could be punished under more than one statute within the meaning of section 654 depends on the intent and objective of the actor." (People v. Saffle (1992) 4 Cal.App.4th 434, 438.) "In the absence of any reference to Penal Code section 654 during sentencing, the fact that the court did not stay the sentence on any count is generally deemed to reflect an implicit determination that each crime had a separate objective." (People v. Tarris (2009) 180 Cal.App.4th 612, 626-627.) "'The determination of whether there was more than one objective is a factual determination, which will not be reversed on appeal unless unsupported by the evidence presented at trial.' [Citations] '[T]he law gives the trial court broad latitude in making this determination.'" (People v. Wynn (2010) 184 Cal.App.4th 1210, 1215 (Wynn).)

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