What is the effect of section 1101, subdivision (b) of the Evidence Code, which would allow an accused to plead guilty to one of the charges?

While I concur in that portion of Parts I and II which hold failure to permit appellant to plead guilty to any or all of an information at any stage of the proceedings is error but harmless (People v. Watson (1956) 46 Cal.2d 818, 836, 299 P.2d 243), I cannot join the majority's discussion of Evidence Code section 1101, subdivision (b).

As the majority correctly notes, Evidence Code section 1101, subdivision (b) permits the admission of evidence of a crime or other act when relevant to prove identity, motive or intent under limited circumstances. Specifically, other acts are admissible when there are common, distinctive marks leading to the conclusion "... if the defendant is guilty of one he must be guilty of the other. Or as the matter is sometimes stated, the other offenses ... are sufficiently similar and possess a sufficiently high degree of common features with the act charged where they warrant the inference that if the [152 Cal.App.3d 657] defendant committed the other acts he committed the act charged." (People v. Thomas (1978) 20 Cal.3d 457, 465, 143 Cal.Rptr. 215, 573 P.2d 433.)