Prosecution for Conduct Which Constitutes More Than One Offense

When the same conduct of a defendant may establish the commission of more than one offense, the defendant may be prosecuted for each such offense. He may not, however, be convicted of more than one offense if: (a) one offense is included in the other as defined in § 105.58 of the Criminal Procedure Code; (b) one offense consists only of a conspiracy or other form of preparation to commit the other, (c) inconsistent findings of fact are required to establish the commission of the offenses; (d) the offenses differ only in that one is defined to prohibit a designated kind of conduct generally and the other to prohibit a specific instance of such conduct; or (e) the offense is defined as a continuing course of conduct and the defendant’s course of conduct was uninterrupted, unless the law provides that specific periods of such conduct constitute separate offenses. SOURCE: M.P.C. § 1.07 (1); N.J. § 2C:1-7(A). CROSS-REFERENCES: 8 GCA §§ 60.30, 60.35, 85.19, 105.58. COMMENT: While § 1.22 is new, and based upon the Model Penal Code § 1.07 (1), the basic concepts contained within this Section are not new as they are now practiced, in variable form, through case law. Nevertheless, § 1.22 does include specific new limitation on convictions, and not prosecutions. Thus, this Section cannot be used as a basis to strike counts of indictments or information before trial and conviction. The greater part of the limitation upon multiple conviction is contained within the Code of Criminal Procedure to which cross reference is made. However, it was thought necessary to include this much within § 1.22