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5 By prohibiting multiple punishments for a single criminal act Penal Code section 654. affords protection beyond and different from that given by either the constitutional proscrip-. tion of subsequent jeopardy or the implementation of that doctrine by Penal Code section 1023..
Most criminal statues have two essential pieces, the physical act and the mental act. Accordingly, you can break down almost any criminal statute into the physical acts that must be proven, and the mental state required (often referred to as the intent). For example, here is a common definition of a criminal assault: