Opinion ID: 1748186
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: the trial court's bifurcation is harmless error.

Text: Kentucky Rules of Criminal Procedure (RCr) 6.18 permits joinder of offenses in a single indictment if the offenses are (1) of the same or similar character or (2) based on the same acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. But RCr 9.16 permits a court to order separate trials of the counts of an indictment upon motion and a showing of prejudice. RCr 9.16 applies when the requirements of RCr 6.18 are satisfied in that joinder could be proper but would be prejudicial. [2] The trial court has broad discretion with respect to joinder and will not be overturned in the absence of a showing of prejudice and a clear abuse of discretion. [3] A criminal defendant is not entitled to severance unless he positively shows prior to trial that joinder would be unduly prejudicial. [4] Offenses closely related in character, circumstances[,] and time need not be severed. [5] If evidence from one of the offenses joined in the indictment would be admissible in a separate trial of the other offenses, the joinder of offenses generally will not be prejudicial. [6] Additionally, considerations of judicial economy and the efficiency of avoiding multiple trials are reasons for joint trials. [7] Cohron argues that the incidents of May 28, June 9, and June 12 were completely separate incidents occurring on different days; and the trial court erred in not severing them. Evidence from one incident, he argues, would not have been admissible in a separate trial of the other incidents. He argues they were not inextricably interconnected since it was not necessary to know that Cohron had escaped from a correctional facility before learning of the reckless driving incident in the stolen car or to know the events that led him to be taken to the hospital from which he fled the police. He claims that it was possible for the Commonwealth to show that Cohron was charged with felonies at the time of the June 12 escape without detailing the specific charges of June 9 or the underlying events. The trial court ordered the June 9 and June 12 incidents to be tried together because the events of the reckless driving, car accident, and drug charges helped to explain Cohron's state of mind at the hospital. We do not observe a clear abuse of the trial court's discretion. The trial court concluded that the June 9 and 12 incidents could not be separated because the events of June 9 explained why Cohron was in the hospital from which he escaped. So these offenses were sufficiently connected as a series of events. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by trying them together. Instead, as a matter of judicial economy, it made sense to try these offenses all at once. Most importantly, Cohron did not identify specific prejudice from trying these charges together. The May 28 escape charge is more problematic. The trial court decided to separate the May 28 escape charge and try it separately to the same jury after it had rendered a verdict on the other offenses. We are aware of no other case tried in this manner. We must conclude the decision of the trial court to attempt to bifurcate the May 28 escape offense was an implicit determination that a joint trial that included that charge would be prejudicial. But the trial court's novel solution  trying the May 28 escape charge to the same jury after that jury had already rendered a verdict on the other charges  did not serve to lessen the perceived prejudice. Here, the bifurcated charge was tried to the same jury. The result was that the jury was presented with collective proof of escapes that is the very ill that the trial court was presumably attempting to avoid. So we conclude the trial court's novel partial severance of the May 28 charge was improper. But we also conclude that impropriety was, at most, a harmless error since the May 28 offenses could have been joined with the June 9 and June 12 offenses. RCr 9.24 provides that we are to disregard any error or defect in the proceeding that does not affect the substantial rights of the parties. We do not believe the unusual procedural method used by the trial court affected Cohron's substantial rights because the May 28 escape charge could have been joined with the June 9 and June 12 charges. More specifically, the May 28 escape charge could have provided a motive for Cohron's conduct that followed on June 9 and June 12. [8] Under Kentucky Rules of Evidence (KRE) 404(b), evidence of other crimes or wrongs is admissible to prove, among other things, motive. It is certainly reasonable to conclude that Cohron's May 28 escape provided a motive for him to flee or escape from custody on June 9 and June 12. So the fact that the trial court's unusual procedural methodology had the net result of permitting the same jury to hear evidence of the May 28 charge after it had already heard evidence of the June 9 and June 12 charges and rendered a verdict on those charges did not affect Cohron's substantial rights. In other words, the trial court's attempted bifurcation was procedurally improper; but that impropriety is of no real moment since the same jury should have heard evidence of all of Cohron's charges all along in order to present the jury with a complete picture of Cohron's actions. Accordingly, we conclude that Cohron was not unduly prejudiced by the trial court's improper attempted bifurcation of the May 28 charge. [9]