## Facts

- A juvenile petition alleged that Alberto R. committed attempted premeditated murder and assault with a firearm, with firearm-use and gang enhancements, after a shooting in rival gang territory.
- Alberto, identified as a member of the Shelltown gang, rode as a passenger with other gang members in a car driven by his ex-girlfriend through an area associated with a rival gang.
- As the cars passed a location described as a rival gang hangout, someone in the lead car threw a bottle and yelled “1920,” identified as a Shelltown slogan.
- Alberto fired several shots at a rival gang member standing outside the location, striking the victim in the leg and lower back.
- The driver fled; the car was later rammed by a pickup truck; Alberto and others ran, and the driver later contacted police.
- The juvenile court dismissed a conspiracy count, sustained the attempted murder and assault allegations, found the gang and firearm enhancements true, committed Alberto to the California Youth Authority for an aggregate term including a three-year consecutive gang enhancement, and stayed punishment on the assault count under Penal Code § 654.

## Issues

1. Whether Penal Code § 186.22(b) (STEP Act gang enhancement) is unconstitutional on its face or as applied on vagueness, overbreadth, due process, equal protection, or freedom-of-association grounds.
2. Whether Penal Code § 654 required dismissal of one of the two adjudications (attempted murder and assault with a firearm) because both arose from the same shooting.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal affirmed the juvenile court’s judgment.
- Penal Code § 186.22(b) was upheld as constitutional on its face and as applied.
- The record supported that the shooting was committed “in association with” and for the benefit of a criminal street gang, with the specific intent required by § 186.22(b).
- Penal Code § 654 was held to bar multiple punishment, not multiple adjudications; the juvenile court properly stayed punishment on the assault count while sustaining both counts.

## Legal Principles

- A gang enhancement under Penal Code § 186.22(b) applies when a felony is committed for the benefit of, at the direction of, or in association with a criminal street gang, and with the specific intent to promote, further, or assist criminal conduct by gang members.
- Statutory language is not unconstitutionally vague where persons of ordinary intelligence can understand the prohibited conduct and where a specific-intent element limits enforcement discretion.
- Penal Code § 186.22(b) targets criminal conduct connected to gang activity, not mere gang membership; it therefore does not, by itself, violate freedom of association or equal protection when rationally related to reducing gang crime.
- Penal Code § 654 prohibits multiple punishment for the same act or course of conduct, but does not require reversal of multiple convictions/adjudications; the proper remedy is to stay execution of sentence on all but one count.

## Conclusion

The court sustained Alberto’s attempted murder and assault adjudications, upheld the STEP Act gang enhancement against constitutional challenges, and confirmed that § 654 requires only a stay of duplicative punishment—not dismissal of one of the adjudications—when multiple offenses arise from a single shooting.


In re Alberto R., 1 Cal. Rptr. 2d 348 (Cal. Ct. App. 1991)