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"Merger" in Oklahoma Criminal Law

Meregr is a very important issue in Oklahoma criminal law. Title 21 O.S. § 11 reads as follows:

If there be in any other provision of the laws of this state a provision making any specific act or omission criminal and providing the punishment therefor, and there be in this title any provision or section making the same act or omission a criminal offense or prescribing the punishment therefor, that offense and the punishment thereof, shall be governed by the special provisions made in relation thereto, and not by the provisions of this title. But an act or omission which is made punishable in different ways by different provisions of this title may be punished under any of such provisions, except that in cases specified in Sections 51.1 and 54 of this title, the punishments therein prescribed are substituted for those prescribed for a first offense, but in no case can a criminal act or omission be punished under more than one section of law; and an acquittal or conviction and sentence under one section of law, bars the prosecution for the same act or omission under any other section of law.

Title 21 O.S. § 11 prohibits double punishmnet for the same act. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals explained Oklahoma's statutory prohibition on double punishmnet in Barnard v. State, 2012 OK CR 15, 290 P.3d 759:

Because Section 11 complements the double jeopardy protections of the Oklahoma and United States Constitutions, a traditional double jeopardy analysis is conducted only if Section 11 does not apply. Mooney v. State, 1999 OK CR 34, ¶ 14, 990 P.2d 875, 882-883.
The proper analysis of a Section 11 claim focuses on the relationship between the crimes. Davis v. State, 1999 OK CR 48, ¶ 13, 993 P.2d 124, 126. If the crimes truly arise out of one act, Section 11 prohibits prosecution for more than one crime, absent express legislative intent. Id. Thus, it is first necessary to examine the relationship between the two crimes to determine whether they constitute a single act.

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