California v. Tom
Annotate this CaseWhile watching a small dog that belonged to his girlfriend’s parents, defendant Jesse Tom beat, stabbed, and strangled the dog. Defendant covered the dead dog with oil and placed it inside a barbeque. Before he could light the deceased dog on fire, however, officers arrived on scene and apprehended defendant after he fled. A jury convicted defendant of two counts of animal cruelty (Pen. Code, § 597, subds. (a)—count one, & (b)—count two), resisting, delaying, or obstructing an officer (count three), and attempted arson (count four). The jury found true the special allegation that defendant had personally used a deadly weapon, a broken wine bottle, within the meaning of Penal Code section 12022(b)(1). At a subsequent proceeding, the court found true a prior prison allegation, and later sentenced defendant to an aggregate term of five years eight months in state prison. Defendant did not dispute the facts underlying his convictions, but on appeal he argued he could not be convicted of violating section 597(a) and (b) based on the same act. He further contended the court should have stayed the sentence on his attempted arson offense because his actions were a part of one indivisible course of conduct. Based on the plain language of section 597, the Court of Appeal concluded defendant could not be convicted of violating both subdivision (a) and (b) based on the same conduct. The Court further concluded the trial court properly sentenced defendant for the attempted arson offense alleged in count four.
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