People v. Atencio

California Court of Appeal · Criminal Law

Criminal LawPenal Code section 654Multiple punishmentFirearm offensesSentencingsection 654double punishmentsingle act

Facts

Defendant took a .45-caliber pistol from Debra Trew's house on May 6, 2009, and retained possession of it through the next day. On May 7, he brought a bag containing jewelry and the handgun to Shannon McCraney's house, remained there after police surrounded the home, and the next day officers found the loaded pistol hidden in the stove's broiler pan. The gun was identified as belonging to John Kuhn, and defendant was charged as to that same firearm with grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon. The trial court found the crimes had predominantly independent objectives and imposed consecutive terms.

Issue

Does Penal Code section 654 require a stay of sentence for felon-in-possession when the defendant stole a firearm and then continued to possess that same firearm through the following day? More specifically, were the theft and possession punishable separately, or were they part of one course of conduct with a single objective?

Rule

Under Penal Code section 654, a defendant may not be punished more than once for the same act or omission. If offenses arise from a course of conduct, multiple punishment is barred when all offenses were incident to one intent and objective; where theft of a pistol is merely the means by which the defendant gains possession of it, and nothing more shows a separate objective, punishment for both theft and later possession of that same gun is prohibited.

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One of 10 multiple-choice questions for this case. Pick an answer to see why.

In Fresno, Leo Maren, a convicted felon, stole a revolver from a neighbor’s garage on Monday night. Police found him Tuesday afternoon with that same revolver in his backpack, and there was no evidence he used or displayed it for any other offense.

If Leo is convicted of grand theft of a firearm and possession of a firearm by a felon based on that same revolver, may the court impose unstayed punishment for both counts?

Explanation. Under the majority opinion, section 654 bars multiple punishment when theft of a firearm and later possession of that same firearm are part of one course of conduct with one objective: to possess the gun. Merely keeping the firearm into the next day, without more, does not create a distinct criminal objective. The theft is treated as the means by which the defendant gained possession of the same weapon. (Derived from People v. Atencio (n.d.).)