Opinion ID: 1311745
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: improper misjoinder of separate charges

Text: On September 11, 1985, the State filed Information No. 9691 charging four counts of embezzlement-related offenses and one count of submitting a false voucher for a battery, and Information No. 9692 charging five additional counts of false vouchers. On October 2, 1985, the State made a motion to join those two informations in one trial pursuant to W.R.Cr.P. 11(a), on the grounds that the offenses charged in each Criminal action number are the same or are [of] similar character and are connected together constituting part of a common scheme or plan and that the interest of justice would be served by joinder of these matters for trial. While there is no written order in the record granting the joinder motion, it was de facto granted when both informations were jointly tried. The record negatively reflects lack of approval by Howard, incrementally supported by trial-time motion for acquittal and post-trial motion for new trial. W.R.Cr.P. 9, 11, 12 and 13 are comparable to F.R.Cr.P. 8, 9, 13 and 14. The joining of informations or indictments into one trial is controlled by W.R. Cr.P. 12 and not W.R.Cr.P. 11(a). W.R.Cr. P. 11(a) does control W.R.Cr.P. 12 in the negative in that W.R.Cr.P. 12 permits joining of offenses or indictments if the offenses or defendants could have been joined in a single indictment or information, which is controlled by W.R.Cr.P. 11. The rule permits joining multiple offenses in one information or indictment where (1) the offenses are of the same or similar character, (2) based on the same act or transaction, or (3) based on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting part of a common scheme or plan. The trial court has no discretion, however, to include in a single indictment offenses or defendants not permitted by Rule 11 to be joined. Such an act would be termed misjoinder. Ostrowski v. State, 665 P.2d 471, 484 (Wyo. 1983). In Pote v. State, 695 P.2d 617, 623 (Wyo. 1985), we said, [g]enerally, joinder of offenses is proper, absent compelling reasons for severance (citing Linn v. State, 505 P.2d 1270 (Wyo.), cert. denied sub nom. Lucas v. State, 411 U.S. 983, 93 S.Ct. 2277, 36 L.Ed.2d 959, reh. denied 412 U.S. 944, 93 S.Ct. 2780, 37 L.Ed.2d 405 (1973)). In Linn, the trial court was dealing with three defendants who were alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction. Id at 1274. This is not the issue in the present case. Needless to say, a compelling reason for severance exists when the circumstances are such as to violate the rule when the prosecution does not even allege any of the three criteria of W.R.Cr.P. 11(a) in combining multiple charges in one information. Failure to comply with W.R.Cr.P. 11(a) is a compelling reason for not permitting the joinder of different offenses into a single information. In Pote, 695 P.2d at 623, we also said, [g]ranting or denying a motion for severance is discretionary with the trial court (citing Jasch v. State, 563 P.2d 1327, 1335 (Wyo. 1977)). As Linn, Jasch deals with the joining of co-defendants who were charged with involvement in the same drug sale. W.R.Cr.P. 12 and 13 are permissive and discretionary once the threshold of compliance with W.R.Cr.P. 11 is achieved. Without compliance with W.R.Cr.P. 11, joinder under W.R.Cr.P. 12 and 13 would be improper. The appropriateness of joinder of F.R.Cr.P. 8 (W.R.Cr.P. 11) is a question of law. United States v. Werner, 620 F.2d 922, 926 (2d Cir.1980). [6] If we assume the prosecutor meant to consolidate the informations pursuant to W.R.Cr.P. 12 instead of W.R.Cr.P. 11(a) in his Motion for Joinder, based upon his allegations that the crimes are the same or of similar character and are connected together by a common scheme or plan, we are still forced to examine the record to arrive at our understanding of whether or not all the counts in Information No. 9691 should have been joined or if misjoinder has occurred. Obviously, the false battery voucher is not part of the same activity or transaction as the failure-to-account/embezzlement charges. By elimination, we are then left with an inquiry into whether or not the offenses could have been joined in one information by a common scheme or plan. [A] common scheme or plan embrac[es] the commission of two or more crimes so related to each other that proof of one tends to establish the other. United States v. Weaver, 565 F.2d 129, 134 (8th Cir.1977), cert. denied 434 U.S. 1074, 98 S.Ct. 1263, 55 L.Ed.2d 780 (1978); State v. Jones, 120 Ariz. 556, 587 P.2d 742 (1978). The caution against joining unrelated counts in one indictment or information is that same caution in guarding against admission into evidence of other crimes or bad acts under W.R.E. 404(b). See also United States v. Quinn, 365 F.2d 256, 265 (7th Cir.1966). While the court in that case went so far as to disregard the government's reliance on common scheme where [e]ach count of the indictment failed to allege `a common scheme or plan' connecting the different transactions, we need not extend our discussion to that extent. Id. at 264. While the State here did not allege a common scheme and same offense in its motion for joinder, it did represent the existence of a common scheme and same offense in its motion for joinder. Contrarily, we do not find that the logical relationship frequently stated as the test, United States v. Brown, 823 F.2d 591 (D.C. Cir.1987), in comparing embezzlement or fiduciary failure to account with improvident inclusion of the battery cost as an expense account reimbursement item. Nowhere in this record is any evidence to be identified sustaining the criteria necessary for compliance with W.R.Cr.P. 11(a) to join the battery charge within other multiple offenses for inclusion in one information. Consequently, misjoinder occurred as an error of law, United States v. Kabbaby, 672 F.2d 857 (11th Cir.1982); and accordingly, I would vacate the battery charge, Count V of Information No. 9691. C. Wright, Federal Practice and Procedure: Criminal 2d § 143 at 487 (1982). The evidence of a criminal offense as to the battery charge was tenuous at best, and on a single-count trial, the question of submission to the jury may have properly been raised. The prejudicial nature of inclusion with four counts of complex, well-proved failure-to-account/embezzlement is obvious. Illustrative of the cumulative effect of jointly tried but completely separate offenses, see discussion in State v. Boscarino, 204 Conn. 714, 529 A.2d 1260 (1987). We are then faced with consideration of whether the two counts of Information No. 9692 for which guilty verdicts were rendered should likewise fall under W.R.Cr.P. 12 and 13. Initially, it is observed that the sufficiency of the evidence for Counts II and III of that information, later discussed in a sufficiency-of-the-evidence context, is not comparable to the weakness of Count V, Information No. 9691. In holding that Count V of Information No. 9691 originally should not have been combined with the other four as dissimilar and disconnected in essential elements, we do not similarly find prejudicial error in the trial of both informations at the same time under this circumstance, and particularly so since little benefit in reversal for retrial could be perceived where the only additional penalty presently imposed was restitution of the amount of the vouchers. [7]