California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Brewer, C081423 (Cal. App. 2017):
" ' "Whether a course of criminal conduct is divisible and therefore gives rise to more than one act within the meaning of section 654 depends upon 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." ' " (People v. Capistrano (2014) 59 Cal.4th 830, 885.) Whether defendant acted with multiple intents is a question of fact for the trial court which will not be disturbed provided it is supported by substantial evidence. (Id. at p. 886.)
Here, insufficient evidence supports the trial court's implied finding that defendant acted with multiple intents. There is no evidence that defendant entered the house with the intent to commit any offense other than to attack his wife and her mother. Therefore, we must reverse the sentence for this count. (See People v. Hester (2000) 22 Cal.4th 290, 293-294 [concluding that sentence for burglary count should have been stayed pursuant to section 654 where defendant's sole intent in entering his former girlfriend's home was
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