Opinion ID: 506169
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Conflicting Defense Theories

Text: 55 Severance may also be required in cases in which co-defendants rely on defenses that are mutually contradictory. [T]he denial of a severance motion generally constitutes an abuse of discretion when 'the defendants present conflicting and irreconcilable defenses and there is a danger that the jury will unjustifiably infer that this conflict alone demonstrates that both are guilty.'  Wright, 783 F.2d at 1094 (quoting Rhone v. United States, 365 F.2d 980, 981 (D.C.Cir.1966)). In Wright, two men were charged with kidnapping. Wright intended to claim insanity, and Moss duress, but this in itself did not establish the requisite conflict requiring severance. Wright further claimed that a substantial factor contributing to his mental illness was the murder of his lover. But Moss claimed that Wright had said that he himself had killed his lover. According to Moss, Wright's statement lent plausibility to his alleged threats, which forced Moss to join in the kidnapping plan. Although we recognized the conflict to be a real one, the defenses were not so contradictory as to raise an appreciable danger that the jury would convict because of the inconsistency. The inconsistency would not logically require a jury to find Wright guilty if it acquitted Moss. 783 F.2d at 1095. 56 The conflicts between appellants in the instant case are far less severe, and not such as to require severance. For example, Black claims that restrictions placed on impeachment of Strickland resulted from conflicts with co-defendants. Black's counsel was not permitted to inquire about Strickland's knowledge of the murder of a Colombian drug source. But this restriction was imposed by the district court not because of the tendency to implicate Burns (as Black claims), but because it was not probative of anything. Tr. 713. Similarly, the court restricted inquiry on cross-examination as to witnesses' fears of other defendants. See, e.g., Tr. 3574-77. The court imposed these restrictions partly to avoid unfair prejudice to the co-defendants, but mainly because the probative value of the evidence was slight. Finally, although the trial court refused to allow Bell's counsel to cross-examine Strickland regarding an alleged plot to kill Kupits because the probative value was outweighed by the danger of prejudice to Black, see infra at 1405-07, we cannot say that the decision not to sever Bell (or Black) from the other defendants based on this prejudice was an abuse of discretion. The conflicts between the defendants in this respect were not so severe as to require severance.