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Name: People v. Hall
Case #: C031119
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 3 DCA
Opinion Date: 09/27/2000
Subsequent History: Modification of opinion 84 Cal.App.4th 315e; petition for review den. 1/10/01
Summary

The appellate court modified the sentence by staying imposition of punishment per Penal Code section 654, on two of three counts of violating Penal Code section 417, brandishing a firearm. In this case, the defendant, who was also convicted of violating section 273.5, exhibited a firearm in the presence of three police officers. The issue was whether brandishing constituted an act of violence such that the defendant could be punished once as to each victim. The court held that brandishing is like driving under the influence or burglary (and unlike vehicular manslaughter and assault with a deadly weapon) because the offense is not itself a violent act. “[T.]he potential for violence does not make a crime violent any more than the potential for romance makes a date an affaire.”