I. JURISDICTION
Thе state petitions this court to review a memorandum decision of the court of ap *483 peals that vacated the defendant’s sentence. We have jurisdiction pursuant to Ariz. Const, art. 6, § 5(3) аnd A.R.S. § 12-120.24.
II. ISSUE
We address only one question on review: whether defendant’s two acts of forgery were committed on the “same occasion” for purposes of sentence enhancemеnt.
III. PACTS
The following facts are necessary for a determination of this matter on appeal. The defendant and two women, Patty Clark and another woman, devised a forging and cashing scheme for a series of stolen checks. The second woman took the checks from the briefcase of a man with whom she lived. Clark then forged the first check in the amount of $400.00. The first attemрt to cash that check failed when the teller at the drive-in window of a Tucson branch of the First Interstate Bank refused to cash it because of questionable identification. Defendant then went into another First Interstate Bank branch in Tucson and cashed the $400.00 check. The conspirators split the money and purchased drugs. Later the same day, defendant presented a сheck in the amount of $450.00 to another First Interstate Bank branch. This time, however, defendant left the bank during the verification process.
Defendant was charged with two counts of forgery and the jury found defendant guilty on both counts. The judge also found that one count constituted a prior conviction to the other count.
See
A.R.S. § 13-604(H);
State v. Hannah,
The court of appeals affirmed the conviction, but vacated the sentence and remanded for resentencing. The court reasoned:
While it is true that attempts to cash the two checks were made at different branches of First Interstatе Bank, the scheme was hatched at one time, the checks were prepared for the crimes at one time, and one motive, that is, to obtain money for drugs, was the driving force behind bоth crimes. Our review of the record shows that appellant’s acts meet the definition of “same occasion” and should only have been considered as one conviction for sеntencing.
We granted the state’s petition for review because we do not agree with the court of appeals that the offenses were committed on the “same occаsion”.
IV. DISCUSSION
The applicable statute reads, in pertinent part:
Convictions for two or more offenses committed on the same occasion shall be counted as only one conviction for purposes of this section.
A.R.S. § 13-604(H) (emphasis added). In Hannah, we held that when a defendant is tried for more than one crime in a single trial, a conviction on onе count may be used to enhance the punishment on a second count. If, however, the offenses were committed on the “same occasion,” then only one conviction can be used for purposes of sentencing.
It is not always clear when two or more offenses are committed on the same occasion. In the case of
State v. Perkins,
[A] vague and potentially open-ended conspiracy to commit whatever crimes can be сommitted is alone insufficient to unite apparently distinct crimes. We find no error with the consecutive sentences imposed.
Perkins,
We next addressed the issue of when two or more offenses are committed on the “same occasion” in
State v. Noble,
Here, however, we conclude that the kidnapping and child molestation offenses were committed on the same occasion after noting that 1) appellant’s criminal conduct was continuous and uninterrupted, 2) appellant’s conduct was directed to the accomplishment of a single criminal objective rather than multiple criminal objectives, 3) only one person was victimized, and 4) the time period involved was very brief. Bеcause appellant’s four offenses were committed on the same occasion, none of the four convictions can be considered prior convictions for purposes of enhancing sentences presently being imposed.
Noble
A recent case involving the issue of “same occasion” offenses was
State v. Henry,
The common meaning of the phrase “same occasion” is same time, same place ...
$ $ s)s % ‡ sfc
*485 We know of no all-encompassing test to determine whether different crimes fall within the “same occasion” limitation of the statute. Any analysis of the question must have reference to the time, place, number of victims, and distinct nature of the defendant’s acts. See Noble,152 Ariz. at 285-86 ,731 P.2d at 1229-30 . In general, however, when different crimes, even though unrelated in nature, are committed at the same place, on the same victim or group of victims, and аt the same time or as part of a continuous series of criminal acts, they should be considered as having been committed on the “same occasion” for purposes of sentеnce enhancement.
******
Henry
We believe that Perkins controls in the instant case. We might agree with defendant that the crimes occurred on the “same occasion” if the only crime he was charged with was conspiracy. However, the defendant was convicted of two counts of forgery. In one count, defendant entered a bank and cashed a $400.00 forged check. He then split the money with his аccomplices and they used it to buy drugs. Later the same day, the process was unsuccessfully repeated at another branch of the First Interstate Bank using a separate check and a different amount. These were two separate events, not a continuous series of criminal acts. The crimes were committed at different times of the day, at different branchеs of the First Interstate Bank, using two different checks, two different forgeries, and two different bank tellers.
We hold that the crimes were separate and not committed on the “same occasion”. The memorandum decision of the court of appeals is vacated. The sentence of the trial court is affirmed.
