Opinion ID: 1831783
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Denial of Motion to Sever Criminal Charges

Text: Lugo asserted before trial that he was entitled to have separate trials on the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organization (RICO) counts, [32] the Schiller counts, and the Griga-Furton counts. He contended that a single trial on all the counts would result in spillover prejudice to the extent that jurors would not be able to make individual determinations of guilt or innocence regarding each criminal charge. [33] The trial judge denied Lugo's motion to sever the sets of counts from each other and to have separate trials. The only relief granted by the trial judge after a hearing on the motion was that Lugo would have a separate jury from codefendants Doorbal and Mese. [34] Denial of a motion for severance of criminal charges is reviewed for abuse of discretion. See Crossley v. State, 596 So.2d 447 (Fla.1992). We have previously stated: [T]he rules [of criminal procedure] do not warrant joinder or consolidation of criminal charges based on similar but separate episodes, separated in time, which are connected only by similar circumstances and the accused's alleged guilt in both or all instances. Courts may consider the temporal and geographical association, the nature of the crimes, and the manner in which they were committed. However, interests in practicality, efficiency, expense, convenience, and judicial economy, do not outweigh the defendant's right to a fair determination of guilt or innocence. Wright v. State, 586 So.2d 1024, 1029-30 (Fla.1991) (citations omitted) (quoting Garcia v. State, 568 So.2d 896, 899 (Fla.1990)). Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.150 [35] requires that the criminal charges joined for trial be considered in an episodic sense. Garcia v. State, 568 So.2d 896, 899 (Fla.1990). Moreover, there must be a meaningful relationship between or among the charges before they can be tried together. Ellis v. State, 622 So.2d 991, 999 (Fla.1993). That is to say, the crimes in question must be linked in some significant way. Id. at 1000. Lugo primarily addresses the trial court's failure to grant his pretrial motion to sever the Schiller counts, the Griga-Furton counts, and the racketeering counts [36] from each other so that separate trials could be conducted on each set of charges. However, he generally fails to address the important part that the racketeering charges had in the trial judge's decision to deny the motion for severance. [37] The trial judge noted that the State had properly pled the racketeering related charges in the indictment, with events involving the Schiller counts and the Griga-Furton counts serving as two of the required predicate acts. He also noted that he was being asked in advance of hearing one shred of evidence [during the trial] to sever the Schiller counts, the Griga-Furton counts, and the racketeering counts, when one of the crucial points that the State intended to assert was that the Schiller counts and the Griga-Furton counts were integral parts of the very racketeering enterprise in which Lugo and others had engaged. At the pretrial hearing, the trial judge indicated that Lugo was free to file a formal motion to dismiss the racketeering charges if the State failed during trial to present evidence of the link between the Schiller and Griga-Furton counts and their relationship to Lugo's alleged racketeering activities. On the facts before us, we are not prepared to determine that the trial judge erred in his conclusion that the RICO charges provided a relevant relationship between the Schiller and Griga-Furton counts, thereby justifying a single trial on all charges filed against Lugo. This conclusion reflects the requirement that there be a meaningful relationship among charges that are tried together, as we discussed in Ellis. See Ellis, 622 So.2d at 999. Moreover, unlike Ellis, the instant case involves charges of racketeering that link criminal incidents which might appear upon initial inspection to be temporally unrelated because they occurred within a six-month span. [38] The racketeering charges provide the significant way in which the Schiller counts, the Griga-Furton counts, and Lugo's alleged racketeering activity were linked. See generally Ellis, 622 So.2d at 1000. Florida law fully supports the trial judge's conclusion. In Shimek v. State, 610 So.2d 632 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992), the appellant, an attorney, sought before trial to have one count of grand theft severed both from other counts of grand theft and from a count of racketeering. The appellant contended that severance was necessary because one grand theft count (the Skipper count) involved investing settlement funds of a client of his legal practice in a bank that engaged in questionable practices, whereas the other grand theft counts (the Pierce-LaCoste counts) involved investors sought by the appellant or the principals of that same bank. The appellant argued that the count involving his client was not related in an episodic sense to the other grand theft counts or to the racketeering count, but the trial court denied the motion to sever. In concluding that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying the motion to sever, the district court noted several relationships between the Skipper and Pierce-LaCoste counts: the appellant and several principals of the subject bank were involved in each set of counts; each set of counts centered on an investment scheme involving the subject bank; and in each set of counts the appellant used his attorney trust account to channel funds to the subject bank. See id. at 636-37. The district court concluded not only that the Skipper and Pierce-LaCoste grand theft counts were related to each other and constituted predicate acts for the racketeering count, but also that the grand theft counts were linked to the racketeering count in such a way that a unified trial on all of the grand theft counts and the racketeering count was justified. See id. at 640. We note that the district court in Shimek had the benefit of reviewing the entire record of the trial in determining the link between the grand theft counts and the racketeering counts. In the instant case, Lugo sought before trial to sever the Schiller, Griga-Furton, and racketeering counts from each other before any evidence of the relationship of the Schiller and Griga-Furton counts to the alleged racketeering activity had been subjected to adversarial testing during the trial. The trial judge reviewed the indictment against Lugo and determined that the State conformed to the pleading requirements of Florida's substantive RICO statute. The trial court did not abuse its discretion by declining Lugo's pretrial motion to sever, especially when it indicated that it would entertain a formal motion to dismiss the racketeering charges if the State did not present sufficient evidence during trial to support them. Moreover, as in Shimek, the existence of several relationships between the Schiller counts and the Griga-Furton counts, and their links to the racketeering counts, justified the trial judge's decision to conduct a unified trial. We also disagree with Lugo's contention that the racketeering activities were not related in an episodic sense. The unfortunate racketeering activity in which Lugo and others participated began with the abduction, extortion, and attempted murder of Marc Schiller, continued with the incident involving the planned abduction and extortion of Winston Lee, and reached its tragic pinnacle in the events related to the abduction and terror-filled murders of Frank Griga and Krisztina Furton. The careful planning that surrounded each of these incidents, along with the manner of execution, obviates the conclusion that they were entirely random, disconnected events. With regard to the abduction and subsequent crimes against Schiller, as well as the abduction and subsequent crimes against Griga and Furton, the record indicates that at least one plot was aborted before an actual abduction took place. Each plot involved intricate planning and the assignment of specific duties to each participant, including Lugo. Indeed, in the Schiller abduction, testimony adduced at trial described Lugo's role as equivalent to that of a military general. Stun guns, handguns, and tape, among other items, were employed to subdue or restrain Schiller. Lugo and Doorbal also visited Griga's Golden Beach home before the abduction of Griga and Furton occurred. During the last visit before the abduction occurred, Lugo and Doorbal each had a concealed firearm. Testimony from Sabina Petrescu, Lugo's girlfriend, indicated that Doorbal was very upset when Lugo did not follow through on the plan to kidnap Griga and Furton during this particular visit, but was later placated by Lugo with the knowledge that they would execute the abduction later that evening. While Griga and Furton were held hostage, both were subdued with Rompun, which Lugo and Doorbal had procured for that specific purpose. Furton was also subdued with handcuffs and tape, as was Schiller. Furthermore, it is important to note that in the intervening months between the Schiller and Griga-Furton abductions, Lugo directed the surveillance of Winston Lee's townhome, with the goal of abducting Lee and obtaining his assets. This type of activity over a six-month period does not have the characteristics of impulsive, sporadic behavior. The nature of these crimes removes them from the category of being merely similar to each other, and requires that they be placed in the category of connected acts or transactions. Fla. R.Crim. P. 3.150(a). [39] We further note that if separate trials on the Schiller and Griga-Furton counts had been held, evidence of the abduction, extortion, and attempted murder of Schiller would have been admissible in Lugo's trial for the abduction, attempted extortion, and murders of Griga and Furton, and vice versa. This evidence would have been admissible in separate trials to establish the existence of an ongoing, common scheme to target wealthy victims, as well as to establish the entire context within which Lugo's criminal activity occurred. See, e.g., Fotopoulos v. State, 608 So.2d 784, 790 (Fla.1992) (determining that severance of murder charges was not required, in part because evidence of commission of one murder would have been admissible in a separate trial of the other to show a common scheme and context in which criminal activity occurred); Bundy v. State, 455 So.2d 330, 345 (Fla.1984) (determining that severance of murder charges was not required, in part because evidence of murder at one location would have been admissible in separate trial for murder at other location due to common scheme involved in both), abrogated on other grounds, Fenelon v. State, 594 So.2d 292 (Fla.1992). [40] Therefore, due to the common scheme that is related to both the Schiller and Griga-Furton counts, Lugo has failed to demonstrate that a severance was necessary for a fair determination of his guilt or innocence. Bundy, 455 So.2d at 345. Based on the reasons above, we determine that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion when he denied Lugo's pretrial motion to sever charges. [41]