Opinion ID: 755850
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Wyrick's Motion To Sever

Text: 8 Wyrick argues the district court erred in denying his pretrial motion to sever. He contends the jury could not compartmentalize the vast amounts of evidence against co-defendant Moore, there was a severe danger of spillover from this evidence, there were multiple conspiracies including many not involving Wyrick, and there were Bruton problems related to Moore's hearsay statements. Although Moore's conspiracy had many facets, it was still only one conspiracy. The trial involved only two defendants and was not overly complex. Wyrick's more limited role in the conspiracy and the disparity in the evidence against Wyrick and Moore did not warrant severance, and the risk that jurors would be unable to compartmentalize the evidence or that evidence against Moore would spill over to Wyrick was minimized by the court's ongoing limiting instructions. See United States v. Kime, 99 F.3d 870, 880 (8th Cir.1996), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 117 S.Ct. 1015, 136 L.Ed.2d 892 (1997). Wyrick's Bruton claim rests on statements that did not incriminate him, so the joint trial did not implicate his right to confront and cross-examine Moore. In sum, the court's refusal to sever was not an abuse of discretion. 3 III. Alleged Multiplicity of the Murder Counts 9 Counts III and IV of the indictment separately charged Moore and Wyrick with murdering Kerns in furtherance of a CCE and while engaged in a marijuana distribution conspiracy, two types of murder expressly prohibited by 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A). In Rutledge v. United States, 517 U.S. 292, 116 S.Ct. 1241, 1250, 134 L.Ed.2d 419 (1996), the Supreme Court held that a drug conspiracy violation of 21 U.S.C. § 846 is a lesser included offense of a CCE violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848. Therefore, Moore and Wyrick could not be convicted or punished for both alleged murders, and Counts III and IV were potentially multiplicitous. On appeal, they contend the district court should have dismissed one of the counts for multiplicity or required the government to elect between them. 10 Responding to this issue, the district court submitted the two counts together on a single verdict form and instructed the jurors that if they found a defendant guilty of murder in furtherance of a CCE, they need not consider the charge of murder while engaged in a marijuana distribution conspiracy. This eliminated the risk of multiplicitous convictions or punishment, an appropriate remedy for multiplicity. See United States v. Sue, 586 F.2d 70, 71 (8th Cir.1978) (per curiam). Moore and Wyrick argue they were nonetheless prejudiced because the indictment suggested more criminal activity than actually occurred. However, the jury did not see the indictment. Thus, as submitted, the murder charge was no different than if the government had alleged alternative means to commit the offense in a single count, which Fed.R.Crim.P. 7(c)(1) expressly permits. We conclude the district court did not abuse its discretion. 4