In re A.G.
In a CVS pharmacy store, A.G., a minor, walked down the alcohol aisle and put a bottle of Grey Goose vodka into his coat pocket. He hesitated a moment and then pocketed a second bottle. He walked out of the store without paying for them. He was arrested and the juvenile petition charged him with commercial burglary (count 2) and petty theft (count 3). The juvenile court considered this petition along with two others (containing additional robbery charges) before sustaining all the counts and imposing a total maximum term of five years and six months. Relevant to this appeal, the juvenile court imposed consecutive sentences for the CVS commercial burglary and petty theft counts.
A.G. and the Attorney General agree the trial court erred in imposing a consecutive sentence for count 2 (four months) and count 3 (two months) pursuant to Penal Code section 654. (All further statutory references are to the Penal Code.) We also agree the sentence was in error. The record shows A.G. possessed a single objective and engaged in a single, continuous course of conduct when he committed these crimes, i.e., to steal alcohol from the store. There is ample case authority holding a defendant must be punished only once if he is convicted of both burglary and theft arising from the same criminal event. (See People v. Bernal (1994) 22 Cal.App.4th 1455, 1457-1458.)
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