California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Karelas, C053741 (Cal. App. 1/30/2008), C053741 (Cal. App. 2008):
To the extent defendant's vandalism was also for the purpose of causing the victim emotional stress, we emphasize that a defendant may not invoke some broad, amorphous intent or objective to invoke the section 654 protection. (See People v. Perez (1979) 23 Cal.3d 545, 552-553.) And, in any event, defendant committed the vandalism not only to intimidate the victim, but also, no doubt, to cause her the expense of repairing the damage. The ultimate aim of section 654 is to align punishment with culpability. (Id. at pp. 550-551.) A defendant who attempts to achieve his goal of terrorizing his victim by committing a number of base criminal acts on his victim is substantially more culpable than a defendant who commits only one such act. (See id. at p. 553.)
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