Multiple Charges From Same Act or Course of Conduct. 

      Can a person be charged with two DUI offenses by an intervening intermission of driving?  It depends on your defense attorney and the judge you get. Chico attorney Robert D. McGhie successfully argued that his client drove drunk on only one occasion in two separate counties and the defendant thereby committed only one drunk driving offense. People v. Nelson, unpublished opinion of the Lassen County Superior Court, Appellate Division, Case No. CR021980, filed January 13, 2000).   However, attorney J.J. Hamlin of San Jose had a client who was convicted of two drunk driving offenses in one trial because the police officer only saw the defendant drive to a convenience store and go into the store, but also saw him resume driving after he came out of the store. These two separate acts of driving made for two separate offenses said the judge, who relied on People v. Esparza (1986) 185 Cal.App.3d 458, 469.  However, in People v. Kelley (1997) 52 Cal.App.4th 568, the argument was that only one conviction may result because Cal.Pen.Code §654 bars multiple prosecutions for offenses arising not only from a single act but also those arising from a course of conduct, citing to In re Kent W. (1986) 181 Cal.App.721, 724, The Kelley court further allowed a second prosecution for acts which occurred after the first prosecution on the basis that the defendant had not been previously prosecuted or punished for those acts, and thus constitutional double jeopardy has no application. Id. at 576.  Although the Kelley opinion dealt with separate prosecutions, it is compelling authority to prevent multiple punishment for separate acts in the same course of conduct in a single prosecution.