Can a defendant be found to have committed a single physical act for purposes of section 654 of the California Criminal Code, Section 215 of the Code of Civil Procedure, Section 422 of the Criminal Code for carjacking?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. Morehouse, F076241 (Cal. App. 2020):

"Whether a defendant will be found to have committed a single physical act for purposes of section 654 depends on whether some action the defendant is charged with having taken separately completes the actus reus for each of the relevant criminal offenses." (People v. Corpening, supra, 2 Cal.5th at p. 313.) Section 215, subdivision (a), defines carjacking as "the felonious taking of a motor vehicle in the possession of another, from his or her person or immediate presence ... accomplished by means of force or fear." (Italics added.) Section 422, in turn, defines a criminal threat as a willful threat "to commit a crime which will result in death or great bodily injury to another person, with the specific intent that the statement, made verbally, in writing, or by means of an electronic communication device, is to be taken as a threat, even if there is no intent of actually carrying it out, which, on its face and under the circumstances in which it is made, is so unequivocal, unconditional, immediate, and specific as to convey to the person threatened, a gravity of purpose and an immediate prospect of execution of the threat, and thereby causes that person reasonably to be in sustained fear for his or her own safety or for his or her immediate family's safety ...." (Italics added.)

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