People v. Pearson CA1/1

Filed 6/28/24 P. v. Pearson CA1/1 NOT TO BE PUBLISHED IN OFFICIAL REPORTS California Rules of Court, rule 8.1115(a), prohibits courts and parties from citing or relying on opinions not certified for publication or ordered published, except as specified by rule 8.1115(b). This opinion has not been certified for publication or ordered published for purposes of rule 8.1115.

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA

FIRST APPELLATE DISTRICT

DIVISION ONE

THE PEOPLE, Plaintiff and Respondent, A168388 v. FREDERICK EARL PEARSON, (Solano County Super. Ct. No. FCR362307) Defendant and Appellant.

Defendant Frederick Earl Pearson was convicted by jury of possession of a firearm by a felon and possession of ammunition by a felon, and sentenced to two years for possession of the firearm and eight months (consecutively) for possession of the ammunition. Defendant raises a single issue on appeal—the sentence on one of the counts should have been stayed under Penal Code section 654.1 We agree and remand for resentencing. BACKGROUND A private investigator for a bail bond company chased down defendant, mistaking him for someone else. Believing he saw a gun magazine on defendant, the investigator tased him. After the two struggled briefly on the ground, the investigator handcuffed and searched defendant, and then searched the immediate vicinity, finding a gun with a partially loaded

1 All statutory references are to the Penal Code.

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magazine. The investigator locked the gun in a vehicle and contacted the police. When officers arrived, they retrieved the handgun from the investigator. It contained a 31-round magazine, loaded with 18 rounds of nine-millimeter ammunition. The gun was also inoperable because it was missing a firing pin. Defendant said he knew the firing pin was missing, and he had the gun for protection. When the police searched defendant, they found some additional rounds of the same type of ammunition in his clothing. The Solano County District Attorney charged defendant with possession of a firearm by a felon (§ 29800, subd. (a)(1)) and possession of ammunition by a felon (§ 30305, subd. (a)(1)). A jury convicted him of both counts, and the trial court sentenced him to a midterm of two years for possession of the firearm and eight months, one-third the midterm, for possession of the ammunition. DISCUSSION Section 654 provides in part, “An act or omission that is punishable in different ways by different provisions of law may be punished under either of such provisions, but in no case shall the act or omission be punished under more than one provision.” (Id., subd. (a).) Plainly stated, section 654 “precludes multiple punishments for a single act or indivisible course of conduct.” (People v. Assad (2010) 189 Cal.App.4th 187, 200.) “ ‘Whether a course of criminal conduct is divisible and therefore gives rise to more than one act within the meaning of section 654 depends on the intent and objective of the actor. If all of the offenses were incident to one objective, the defendant may be punished for any one of such offenses but not for more than one.’ ” (People v. Rodriguez (2015) 235 Cal.App.4th 1000, 1005.) “ ‘If, on the other hand, defendant harbored “multiple criminal