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People v. Britt3/18/2003
CERTIFIED FOR PUBLICATION
When a registered sex offender changes his or her residence in California, the person must, within five working days, provide written notification of the change to the law enforcement agency with which the person was last registered. (Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (f)(1); further section references are to this code.) The person also must, within five working days, register with the chief law enforcement officer of the jurisdiction into which the person moves. (§ 290, subd. (a)(1)(A).)
The question posed by this appeal is whether a registered sex offender who fails to notify law enforcement agencies of the person's change of address when he or she moves from one county to another can be prosecuted in one county for the failure to notify law enforcement that the person was leaving the county, and then be prosecuted separately in the other county for the failure to register in that county when the person took up residence there.
As we will explain, both prosecutions are permissible because a person necessarily has two separate intents and objectives in violating both subdivisions (a) and (f) of section 290, and each crime is a separate continuing act that is not so interrelated with the other act as to come within provisions of section 654.
BACKGROUND
As a result of his prior convictions for sexual crimes, defendant Michael Frederick Britt is required to register with the appropriate law enforcement agency where he is domiciled, to notify the agency when he moves, and to register in his new place of domicile. (§ 290.) When defendant moved from Sacramento County to El Dorado County, he failed to notify law enforcement authorities in either county as required by subdivisions (a) and (f) of section 290.
Defendant was arrested in El Dorado County on a Sacramento County arrest warrant alleging defendant had violated section 290, subdivision (f), by failing to notify law enforcement in Sacramento County that he had moved. Ascertaining that he had established residence in El Dorado County but had failed to register his new address, El Dorado County officers also arrested defendant for violating section 290, subdivision (a).
In the criminal proceeding pending in the Sacramento County Superior Court, defendant pled nolo contendere to violating subdivision (f) of section 290.
Thereafter, an information was filed in El Dorado County, charging defendant with violating subdivision (a) of section 290, and alleging he had two prior serious felony convictions within the meaning of the "three strikes law." (§§ 667.5, subd. (c), 1192.7, subd. (c).)
Defendant moved to set aside the information pursuant to section 995 on the ground that he had been convicted previously in Sacramento County for an offense arising out of the same course of conduct and, thus, that the El Dorado County prosecution was barred by section 654. The motion was denied.
After defendant waived his right to a jury trial, the court convicted him of violating section 290, subdivision (a), by failing to register in El Dorado County as a sex offender, and found true the allegations that he had two prior serious felony convictions. However, the court struck the prior convictions for purposes of sentencing and granted defendant probation on various terms, including that he serve 365 days in the county jail.
DISCUSSION
Defendant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to dismiss the El Dorado County action. In defendant's view, since he was convicted in Sacramento County of violating section 290, subdivision (f), based on his move to El Dorado County without giving the requir
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