People v. Atencio

In People v. Atencio (2012) 208 Cal.App.4th 1239, the defendant was convicted of grand theft of a firearm and felon in possession of a firearm after he took a pistol from the victim's house, kept it for a day, and then abandoned it at another person's house. (Id. at p. 1243.) The Court concluded that both acts were committed pursuant to a single objective, possessing the gun. "To say that defendant's objective on the first day was to take the gun, while his objective on the next day was to possess it is cutting the point too fine. The only point in taking the gun was to gain possession of it, so that he could then do with it what he pleased . . . . The fact that defendant kept possession of the gun for a period of 24 hours did not, without more, alter his intent and objective such that his course of criminal conduct can be deemed to consist of more than one act for purposes of section 654." (Id. at p. 1244.) Since the "defendant's taking of the pistol was merely the means by which he gained possession of it," defendant could be punished only once for both crimes. (Id. at p. 1245.)