What is the effect of Section 654 of the California Criminal Code on a defendant who has been convicted of a number of criminal charges under the same law?

Section 654 provides in relevant part, "(a) An 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." Section 654 applies not only where one act in the ordinary sense is involved but also where there is a course of conduct that violates more than one statute and comprises an indivisible transaction. (People v. Davis (1966) 241 Cal.App.2d 51, 55.)

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Thus, if a defendant is convicted of several offenses that were incident to one objective, the defendant may be punished for any one of such offenses, but not more than one. (People v. Perez (1979) 23 Cal.3d 545, 551.)