Disandra

Defendant appeals from a judgment convicting him of 22 sex offenses committed against his stepdaughter Leanne Q. and her friend, Karen G., both minors. The People appeal from the trial court’s dismissal of four counts pursuant to Penal Code section 995. (Hereafter, all references to sections of an unspecified code are to the Penal Code.) Among the many contentions raised by defendant, only his argument that a restitution fine was improperly imposed has merit. Thus with the appropriate modification, we shall affirm the judgment of conviction. In the People’s appeal, we hold that despite a witness exclusion order, the magistrate did not err in allowing the minor victim’s mother to be present during the victim’s preliminary hearing testimony where the mother herself had already testified. Accordingly, we shall reverse the judgment of dismissal. We deal with defendant’s appeal in part I and the People’s appeal in part II of this opinion.

I.

II.

The information charged defendant, inter alia, with four counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with his daughter, Cyndia, a child under 14 years of age. (§ 288, subd. (a); counts XLIII-XLVI.) These were the only charges involving…