Court Opinion

ID: 9720147
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:18:08.864001+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:13.652243
License: Public Domain

SCOVILLE, P. J., and SONENSHINE, J.
We concur in the majority opinion but write separately to clarify a possible ambiguity regarding the proper scope of Penal Code section 654. Our holding is narrow: A robber may not avoid multiple punishment when harming an unresisting victim or witness in an act extraneous to the objective of robbery. But reliance on People v. Foster (1988) 201 Cal.App.3d 20 [246 Cal.Rptr. 855] suggests a temporal view of section 654, i.e., acts committed before the taking of the property are insulated from separate punishment while anything done after that moment is not. In reality, gratuitous violence often occurs before the robber takes the loot; and certain later acts, such as those which facilitate escape from the scene, may sometimes be inextricable from the robbery.
Here, the attempted murder of the store clerk was too extreme to serve the purpose of escape. And, elimination of a witness is not an objective related to robbery.
A petition for a rehearing was denied September 27, 1988, and the opinion was modified to read as printed above. Appellant’s petition for review by the Supreme Court was denied November 23, 1988. Mosk, J., was of the opinion that the petition should be granted.