## Facts

- Gary Charles Fuller confronted Phillip Gray due to grievances involving Gray’s cousin, Willida Warren.
- During the confrontation, Fuller displayed a shotgun, fired it at Gray, and seriously injured him.
- Fuller was tried in municipal court as a misdemeanant and convicted of:
  - Assault with a deadly weapon (Cal. Penal Code § 245) (misdemeanor treatment);
  - Battery (Cal. Penal Code § 242);
  - Exhibiting a firearm in a threatening manner (Cal. Penal Code § 417).
- The municipal court imposed concurrent county jail terms, including 365 days (with one day suspended) on the assault and battery counts and 5 days on the § 417 count.
- On appeal, the superior court appellate department found the evidence sufficient and upheld challenged testimony by Willida Warren, but reversed and dismissed the assault conviction on the theory that a “successful assault” merges into battery, remanding for resentencing.
- The matter was certified to the California Court of Appeal.

## Issues

1. Whether Penal Code § 654 permits separate punishments for assault with a deadly weapon, battery, and exhibiting a firearm when all arise from one continuous incident (displaying, firing, and injuring with a shotgun).
2. Whether assault with a deadly weapon “merges” into battery when the assault succeeds, requiring dismissal of the assault conviction, or whether separate convictions may stand with only one punishment.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeal held the conduct was, in legal effect, one act for which only one punishment may be imposed under Penal Code § 654.
- The Court rejected the superior court appellate department’s merger theory and held separate convictions for assault with a deadly weapon and battery may stand even when based on the same physical act.
- The proper remedy was not dismissal of the assault count, but sentencing on the more serious offense and staying (or otherwise precluding) punishment on the overlapping lesser counts.
- The Court agreed that Willida Warren’s challenged testimony was properly admitted and that the evidence supported the convictions.

## Legal Principles

- Penal Code § 654 bars multiple punishment where multiple offenses arise from an indivisible transaction with a single objective; only one sentence may be imposed.
- Section 654 limits punishment, not the existence of multiple convictions; courts may enter multiple convictions from the same act while ensuring only a single punishment.
- Assault with a deadly weapon and battery remain distinct offenses; a completed battery does not eliminate the assault conviction, though punishment must comply with § 654.
- When § 654 applies, the court should impose sentence on the most serious conviction and stay punishment on the other counts based on the same act.

## Conclusion

The Court of Appeal held that Fuller could be convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, battery, and exhibiting a firearm arising from the same shooting, but Penal Code § 654 permitted only one punishment; the assault conviction should remain, with punishment on the lesser counts stayed or otherwise barred.


People v. Fuller, 53 Cal. App. 3d 417 (Cal. Ct. App. 1975)