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Name: People v. Le
Case #: H028821
Court: CA Court of Appeal
District 6 DCA
Opinion Date: 02/10/2006
Summary

Penal Code section 654’s ban on multiple punishment applies where the defendant’s robbery and burglary offenses were committed in furtherance of a single intent to steal. Accepting the Attorney General’s concession and noting that burglary is not a crime of violence unless the defendant inflicts great bodily injury in the course of the offense (People v. Centers (1999) 73 Cal.App.4th 84, People v. Guzman (1996) 45 Cal.App.4th 1023), the court found the multiple victim exception inapplicable to a crime involving multiple victims but only one intent to steal. The court further found that trial counsel had been ineffective in failing to object to restitution fines based on the $200 per year formula contained in Penal Code section 1204, subdivision (b)(2), where the calculation was based on an aggregate sentence that included a term that should have been stayed under Penal Code section 654.