*334 Opinion
Defendant was charged in an amended information with two counts of first degree residential robbery, in concert with two or more persons, in violation of Penal Code sections 211 and 213, subdivision (a)(1)(A), 1 two counts of assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury in violation of section 245, subdivision (a)(1), two counts of first degree residential burglary in violation of section 459, 2 and one count of second degree commercial burglary in violation of section 459. 3 With respect to each count, it was alleged that defendant committed each offense for the benefit of, and at the direction of, a criminal street gang, with the specific intent to promote and further criminal conduct by gang members, within the meaning of section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1). It was also alleged that defendant had suffered one prior conviction within the meaning of section 667.5, subdivision (b).
After a trial by jury, defendant was found guilty on all counts. Furthermore, the court found both the prior conviction and the gang allegations to be true. Defendant was sentenced to a total term of 16 years and 8 months. The court imposed two years on the criminal street gang enhancement on count I 4 and eight months on the criminal street gang enhancement on count IV. 5 The court stayed the criminal street gang enhancements on the other five counts.
Defendant contends first that there was insufficient evidence presented at trial to justify the jury’s verdict that defendant participated in the crimes against Peter Martin. 6 Second, defendant claims that the court’s imposition of two criminal street gang enhancements violated section 654. We do not agree with either of defendant’s claims and affirm.
Factual and Procedural Background
On May 8, 1995, at 11:15 p.m., defendant Damean Brown and Antwan Mims entered a Circle K store, went to the beer section, took three bottles of Olde English brand “500” malt liquor and two bottles of Night Train, and walked out of the store without paying for them. A videotape from the store security captured the entire event.
*335 Shortly after 12 a.m. on May 9, 1995, defendant and others broke into the apartment of Ernie Simpson. As Simpson walked toward the living room, defendant came through the front door and started hitting Simpson on the head with a rock. Defendant had on a blue plaid shirt, a blue bandanna over his face and his hair pulled back in a ponytail. Defendant then forced Simpson facedown on the bed yelling, “Get down on the bed, bitch. Face down on the bed.” Someone climbed on Simpson’s back to hold him down on the bed and defendant continued to yell, “Where is your money, bitch? . . . [U . . . Don’t look. I’ll cut you, bitch. I’ll stick you if you look.” At some point, after all of the intruders had left, Simpson drove to a friend’s house to call the police. The police met Simpson back at his apartment and, about an hour later, took Simpson to a field identification where he identified defendant as the man who assaulted him. Defendant was wearing the same clothes as when he assaulted Simpson. Simpson subsequently discovered that his wallet and a case of Henry Weinhard’s brand beer had been taken. Due to the attack, Simpson suffered a large cut on his left cheek, his left eye was swollen shut, and he had several large bumps on his head.
In the early morning hours of May 9, 1995, shortly after the Simpson robbery and assault, Maria Sisante heard excited voices outside of her apartment. She looked out her window and saw a group of men hiding at the bottom of the steps, who then began to climb the steps while putting blue bandannas over their faces, so she called 911. One of the men that Sisante saw was wearing a blue plaid jacket and had a ponytail. Sisante saw, through the peephole of her door, that the men were acting like an assembly line by handing things, person-to-person, out of the apartment right across from her. She also heard the name “Demitrius” spoken. Demitri James, also known as Demitrius, is a close friend and associate of defendant.
Peter Martin lived in the apartment right across from Sisante. That night, Martin had been out drinking and had fallen asleep on the couch in his living room. He never saw his attackers but felt something hit his forehead and heard the sound of breaking glass as one of the assailants hit Martin over the head with a bottle of Henry Weinhard’s brand beer. Prior to this robbery, there had been no Henry Weinhard’s brand beer in the apartment.
Officer Hi responded to the robbery at Martin’s apartment and saw defendant walking toward him. Defendant was nervous, perspiring, breathing hard and matched the description given of the robber. Subsequently, defendant was detained. Officer Jaekel also responded to the robbery and detained Antwan Mims because he matched the description of the suspects. Two game cartridges, remote alarm keys stolen from Martin’s apartment and a bandanna were found in Mims’s jacket. Officer Jaekel also saw property *336 lying in the shubbery on the side of the walkway and a bandanna near the stairwell outside the apartment.
Early in the morning of May 9, 1995, Sisante was taken to a field identification where she identified defendant as one of the men she saw participating in the robbery. She recognized him by his clothes and his ponytail.
Damean Brown admitted he participated in the Martin and Simpson robberies, as well as the burglary of the Circle K.
After the jury’s verdict, a gang expert testified that defendant and Damean Brown were members of the 1200 Blocc Crips and that Antwan Mims was a member of the Georgia Street Mob which consists of younger gang members who can move into the 1200 Blocc Crips when they prove themselves. The gang expert testified that the beer robbery at Circle K and the robberies of Martin and Simpson were for the benefit of, in association with, or at the direction of, the 1200 Blocc Crips.
Discussion
I. Sufficiency of evidence to support the jury’s finding that defendant committed the crimes against Peter Martin.
Due to an alleged total lack of evidence to support the convictions for the Martin crimes, defendant urges us to reverse those three verdicts. We decline the invitation. Defendant bears a massive burden in claiming insufficient evidence to sustain his convictions because our role on appeal is a limited one. Our standard of review is to “examine the entire record in the light most favorable to the prosecution, presuming in support of the judgment the existence of every fact the trier could reasonably deduce from the evidence.”
(People
v.
Price
(1991)
Defendant’s hurdle to secure a reversal is just as high even when the prosecution’s case depends on circumstantial evidence. The “sufficiency of the evidence” standard of review is the same in cases in which the People rely mainly on circumstantial evidence.
(People
v.
Stanley
(1995)
In the case at hand, viewing the entire record in the light most favorable to the prosecution, there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence to tie defendant to the Martin crimes. Defendant, Damean Brown, and Antwan Mims stole beer from a Circle K. Later that same night, defendant and others found an occupied apartment and defendant attacked the occupant (Simpson) with a rock. Simpson identified defendant’s blue plaid shirt, 7 blue bandanna and ponytail. The modus operand! of the Simpson robbery was the same as that used in the Martin robbery. Again, an occupied apartment was chosen. After robbing Simpson, defendant and others then went to Martin’s apartment where defendant was seen by Martin’s neighbor, Maria Sisante. Sisante saw defendant pull a blue bandanna over his face and saw his ponytail. Further, as in the Simpson robbery, the victim was smashed in the head with a heavy object. The heavy object used to hit Martin was a bottle of Henry Weinhard’s brand beer, which, oddly enough, was the same type of beer stolen from Simpson. 8 The police then caught defendant nervous, perspiring, and breathing hard on the walkway outside of the apartment. Antwan Mims was also caught outside the apartment with stolen goods and Damean Brown admitted to the Martin robbery.
Viewing this circumstantial evidence as a whole, the jury was reasonably justified in finding that defendant participated in the crimes against Peter Martin, just as he participated in the crimes against Ernie Simpson and the Circle K store. The jury verdict is supported by substantial evidence.
II. Imposition of two criminal street gang enhancements was proper.
Defendant urges us to stay one of his sentence enhancements under section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1) because the imposition of two sentence enhancements violates section 654. 9 We decline the invitation.
We recognize there is a split of authority concerning the application of section 654 to sentence enhancements. Some appellate districts have held
*338
that section 654 prohibits multiple enhancements.
(People
v.
Dobson
(1988)
The Legislature enacted section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1) as part of the California Street Terrorism Enforcement and Prevention Act (STEP Act). (§ 186.20 et seq.) As relevant here, the STEP Act prescribes certain penal consequences for crimes committed “for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with” a criminal street gang. (§ 186.22.) 10 The Legislature found that “. . . the State of California is in a state of crisis which has been caused by violent street gangs whose members threaten, terrorize, and commit a multitude of crimes against the peaceful citizens of their neighborhoods.” (§ 186.21.) The legislative intent in enacting this chapter was to eradicate criminal street gang activity by focusing on and punishing ongoing patterns of criminal gang activity, (ibid.)
Section 654 provides that even though an act violates more than one statute and thus constitutes more than one crime, a defendant may not be punished multiple times for that single act.
(People
v.
Latimer
(1993)
Defendant asserts that the Martin and Simpson robberies were part of a “continuous course of conduct . . . unified by the single intent to benefit and further the street gang.” We disagree. “The question whether the defendant entertained multiple criminal objectives is one of fact for the trial court, and its findings on this question will be upheld on appeal if there is any substantial evidence to support them. [Citations.]”
(People
v.
Liu, supra,
In the case at hand, the evidence was sufficient to support the trial court’s finding that imposing two separate sentence enhancements was proper. Although defendant may have had one objective to benefit his gang, the robberies and assaults of Mr. Simpson and Mr. Martin involved separate victims, were separated by time and distance, and were separate robberies. Pursuant to
People
v.
Liu, supra,
First, acts of violence against separate victims may be separately punished.
(People
v.
Champion
(1995)
Second, the two robberies were committed at different locations, separated by time, and were not subject to section 654.
(People
v.
Massie
(1967)
Since the underlying offenses, robbery and assault, were not subject to section 654 because they are evidence that defendant’s criminal intent was multiple, the two gang enhancements pursuant to section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1) are also not subject to section 654. The Martin and Simpson robberies were distinct events, isolated by time and distance. Two independent victims were assaulted for the benefit of and at the direction of the criminal street gang. Both individual assaults made the gang more powerful in the eyes of rival gang members. Two independent robberies were also committed for the benefit of and at the direction of the criminal street gang. Each separate act was committed to enhance the gang and to put the gang one up on the community. To hold otherwise, that the two gang enhancements violated section 654, would violate section 654’s purpose to ensure that defendant’s punishment will be commensurate with his culpability.
*341
Separate punishment enhancements for the Simpson and Martin crimes is appropriate and is consistent with the legislative intent to punish and deter criminal gang activity pursuant to section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1). As mentioned at the outset, the Legislature in 1988 enacted the STEP Act. (§ 186.20 et seq.) Underlying the enactment of this chapter was a legislative conclusion that “. . . California is in a state of crisis which has been caused by violent street gangs whose members threaten, terrorize, and commit a multitude of crimes against the peaceful citizens of their neighborhoods.” (§ 186.21.) To combat the problem, the Legislature declared its intent “ ‘to seek the eradication of criminal activity by street gangs by focusing upon patterns of criminal gang activity and upon the organized nature of street gangs.’ ”
(People
v.
Gardeley
(1996)
Thus, we conclude that applying the criminal street gang enhancement to both the Simpson and Martin robberies holds defendants accountable for ongoing gang activity and is consistent with the legislative intent of section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1).
Disposition
Accordingly, the judgment is affirmed.
McKinster, J., and Gaut, J., concurred.
Notes
All further statutory references are to the Penal Code unless otherwise indicated.
Counts I-III are crimes against Peter Martin. Counts IV-VI are crimes against Ernie Simpson.
Count VII is a robbery of a Circle K convenient store.
Residential robbery of Peter Martin.
Residential robbery of Ernie Simpson.
Counts I-III.
The same shirt visible in the videotape from the Circle K robbery.
Also, there was no Henry Weinhard’s brand beer in Martin’s apartment prior to the invasion.
Section 654 reads in relevant part: “An act or omission which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this code may be punished under either of such provisions, but in no case can it be punished under more than one; . . .”
Specifically, section 186.22, subdivision (b)(1) provides for “an additional term of one, two, or three years” for any person convicted of a felony “committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with any criminal street gang, . . .”