California Penal Code Section 667.61 - Interpretation

In People v. Jones (2001) 25 Cal.4th 98, the Supreme Court interpreted former section 667.61, subdivision (g), which provided that a one strike sentence "'shall be imposed on the defendant once for any offense or offenses committed against a single victim during a single occasion.'" (Id. at p. 103.) The court held "for the purposes of . . . section 667.61, subdivision (g), sex offenses occurred on a 'single occasion' if they were committed in close temporal and spatial proximity." (Id. at p. 107.) Jones explained that its rule "should result in a single life sentence, rather than three consecutive life sentences, for a sequence of sexual assaults by defendant against one victim that occurred during an uninterrupted time frame and in a single location." (Id. at p. 107.)