California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from The People v. Ennis, B212811, Los Angeles County Super. Ct. No. MA039033 (Cal. App. 2011):
However, finding separate objectives for the exact same conduct--firing into a vehicle containing three occupants parses defendant's criminal objectives too finely. The goals of exacting revenge for a fight motivated by gang affiliation, and the act of demonstrating the supremacy of defendant's gang, are too closely intertwined to impose multiple punishments. That is, if the gang evidence is given credence, the objectives are incidental to each other. This case is not one where there is a course of conduct, such as a rape with multiple penetrations, where we can look to each volitional act and find a separate and distinct criminal objective. (See, e.g., People v. Harrison (1989) 48 Cal.3d 321 [defendant harbored separate intents to obtain gratification with each sexual penetration].) Here, defendant rapidly fired a burst of shots into an occupied vehicle, and it is unreasonable to assume defendant had time to reflect on his conduct between shots, or for his objective to shift and change course.
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