When a defendant is charged with a crime or public offense under section 15 of the California Criminal Code, can he be found guilty of a crime committed at any time?

Section 15 defines an offense as an act: "A crime or public offense is an act committed or omitted in violation of a law forbidding or commanding it, and to which is annexed" certain punishments, including imprisonment. In the original indictment, the People set forth a wide date range in which defendants committed many acts that may constitute the offense charged. As a general matter, this was an acceptable way of proceeding. "The precise time at which the offense was committed need not be stated in the accusatory pleading, but it may be alleged to have been committed at any time before the finding or filing thereof, except where the time is a material ingredient in the offense." ( 955.) Nor is it problematic that the range may include multiple acts that could constitute the offense. A prosecutor is entitled to present evidence of multiple acts that satisfy a single offense charged. In such cases, the prosecutor must either elect which act constituted the charged offense, or the jury must be instructed to unanimously agree on a single act to return a guilty verdict. (People v. Hoye (2010) 188 Cal.App.4th Supp. 1, 4-5 ["When a defendant is charged with a single criminal act, but the evidence reveals more than one instance of the charged crime, either the prosecution must select the particular act upon which it relies to prove the charge, or the jury must be instructed that it must unanimously agree beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant committed the same specific criminal act"].)