When will a defendant be punished for both driving under the influence and driving with a suspended license?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Dawson, B253047 (Cal. App. 2015):

Penal Code section 654, subdivision (a) provides in pertinent part that "[a]n act or omission that is punishable in different ways by different provisions of law shall be punished under the provision that provides for the longest potential term of imprisonment, but in no case shall the act or omission be punished under more than one provision." A defendant thus may not be punished for two separate crimes which arise either out of a single act or out of an indivisible transaction. When Penal Code section 654 applies, the proper procedure is to stay imposition of sentence on one of the crimes, with the stay to become permanent on completion of the term imposed on the other. (People v. Pearson (1986) 42 Cal.3d 351, 360.)

We believe defendant should not have been punished for both driving while under the influence (count 1) and driving with a suspended license (count 3) under the more recent test set forth in People v. Jones (2012) 54 Cal.4th 350 (Jones). We do not believe, however, that defendant's conviction for evading a peace officer was an indivisible part of the act of driving under the influence and with a suspended license

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