Newton

INTRODUCTION

Plaintiff, the People of the State of California, purports to appeal from an order consolidating four counts of an information into a single count. This is not an appealable order. But, as we advised the parties, we will treat the appeal as a petition for a writ of mandate as plaintiff lacks an adequate remedy at law. (See Olson v. Cory (1983) 35 Cal.3d 390, 401 [ 197 Cal.Rptr. 843 , 673 P.2d 720 ]; Rogers v. Municipal Court (1988) 197 Cal.App.3d 1314, 1317 [ 243 Cal.Rptr. 530 ].)

Defendant Stephen Robert Newton allegedly was involved in a hit-and-run accident. After his vehicle collided with another vehicle, injuring three persons, the latter vehicle was pushed into a third, injuring a fourth person. According to testimony at the preliminary hearing, defendant ran away after the collisions.

The operative information alleged four separate counts of violation of Vehicle Code section 20001 (all further statutory references are to this code unless otherwise stated), one count for each of the four victims. Over the objection of the prosecution, the trial court granted defendant’s motion to consolidate these four counts into a single count.

The issue before us…