People v. Green CA4/3, G063910

Lacey Kary Green was convicted on four counts relating to unlawful sexual conduct with a minor after communicating online with a law enforcement decoy posing as a 13-year-old girl.
Green's communications and attempted meetings with "Destiny" spanned several weeks, including solicitation for sexual acts and attempts to obtain nude photos.
He was arrested at a prearranged meeting spot where he believed he would meet Destiny for sex.
Charges included: contacting/communicating with a minor to commit lewd acts, arranging a meeting with a minor, attempting to use a minor for prohibited acts, and attempting lewd acts with a child.
The trial court imposed consecutive and concurrent sentences totaling three years and four months.
Green appealed, contesting that the consecutive punishments violated Penal Code section 654, which bars multiple punishments for the same act or intent.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Application of section 654 to multiple convictions	Each count involved separate acts and was properly punished individually.	All four crimes shared a single intent and objective; sentences on 1, 3, 4 should be stayed.	Counts 1 and 3 based on separate acts; but counts 2 and 4 based on same act/intent – only one can be separately punished; case remanded for resentencing.

People v. Beamon, 8 Cal.3d 625 (Cal. 1973) (establishes standards for applying Penal Code section 654 to multiple punishments based on acts, objectives, and course of conduct).
People v. Perez, 23 Cal.3d 545 (Cal. 1979) (rejects the argument that a general intent, such as sexual gratification, bars multiple punishments for otherwise distinct crimes).
People v. Louie, 203 Cal.App.4th 388 (Cal. Ct. App. 2012) (articulates when temporal separation of acts justifies multiple punishments under section 654).
People v. Buycks, 5 Cal.5th 857 (Cal. 2018) (discusses resentencing procedure when section 654 errors are found).