People v. Ceniceros CA4/3

DISCUSSION

Section 654 precludes imposition of multiple punishments for a single act or indivisible course of conduct. At the time defendant was sentenced, if an act or omission was punishable in different ways by different laws, section 654 required a court to impose the longest possible imprisonment term. (See People v. Sanchez (2016) 245 Cal.App.4th 1409, 1415.) Hence, the trial court imposed the ten-year sentence on the aggravated arson count, along with an enhancement for use of an accelerant, and imposed, but stayed, the sentences on the remaining counts under section 654.

All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.

2 Assembly Bill 518 (2021-2022 Reg. Sess.) amended section 654, subdivision (a) to read, in relevant part: “An act or omission that is punishable in different ways by different provisions of law may be punished under either of such provisions, but in no case shall the act or omission be punished under more than one provision.” (Stats. 2021, ch. 441, § 1.) The amendment took effect January 1, 2022. Thus, as amended, the sentencing court now has discretion to choose among potential punishments when section 654 applies. The parties agree, as do…