What is the test for a defendant to stay execution of a sentence under section 654 of the California Criminal Code for multiple convictions?

omission be punished under more than one provision." ( 654, subd. (a).) The statute does not prohibit multiple convictions for the same conduct, only multiple punishments. (People v. Monarrez (1998) 66 Cal.App.4th 710, 713.) "In such a case, the proper procedure is to stay execution of sentence on one of the offenses." (Ibid.)

In any section 654 inquiry, the court must initially ascertain the defendant's objective and intent. (People v. Porter (1987) 194 Cal.App.3d 34, 38.) "If he [or she] entertained multiple criminal objectives which were independent of and not merely incidental to each other, he [or she] may be punished for independent violations committed in pursuit of each objective even though the violations shared common acts or were parts of an otherwise indivisible course of conduct." (Ibid.) "Whether the defendant maintained multiple criminal objectives is determined from all the circumstances and is primarily a question of fact for the trial court, whose finding will be upheld on appeal if there is any substantial evidence to support it." (Ibid.)