What is the test for punishment under section 654 of the California Code of Criminal Procedure when a person is convicted of two separate offences under the same law?

Section 654 states in relevant part, "An act or omission that is punishable in different ways by different provisions of law shall be punished under the provision that provides for the largest potential term of imprisonment, but in no case shall the act or omission be punished under more than one provision." ( 654, subd. (a).) Thus, section 654 "prohibits '[p]unishment for two offenses arising from the same act.' " (People v. Latimer (1993) 5 Cal.4th 1203, 1208.) It has been applied not only for the same act, but also " ' "where a course of conduct violated more than one statute and the problem was whether it comprised a divisible transaction which could be punished under more than one statute within the meaning of section 654." ' " (Ibid.)

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