Opinion ID: 336334
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Motions for Severance.

Text: 38 Five appellants argue that the district court erred in refusing to grant their motions for severance filed pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. 2 Before entering upon a discussion of the various arguments tendered by appellants, it should be emphasized that the grant or denial of a motion for severance rests in the sound discretion of the trial judge. 3 Consistent with this discretion, which is necessarily wide, 4 appellants carry a heavy burden to show that the denial of their motions for severance also denied them a fair trial. 5 Absent an abuse of discretion, the ruling of the trial judge will not be disturbed on appeal. 6 39 Appellant Samuel Scales challenges the district court's denial of his pre-trial motion for severance with the argument that had he been tried separately, he could have called his brother and co-defendant, Joseph Scales, as an exculpatory witness. Appellant asserts in his brief that Joseph Scales could have testified that appellant was unaware of the counterfeit character of the Walt Disney stock that appellant pledged as collateral with the Bank of Apopka in May, 1972. See Brief for Appellant Scales at 15-16. In his pre-trial motion for severance, by contrast, appellant Scales restricted his argument in support of severance to vague and general allegations of the prejudice that would inhere in a joint trial of all defendants; the motion did not allege at any point that the testimony of co-defendant Joseph Scales was desired. 7 40 The decisions of this circuit in Byrd v. Wainwright, 428 F.2d 1017 (5 Cir. 1970), and United States v. Martinez, 486 F.2d 15 (5 Cir. 1973), considered in some detail the allegations that must be included in a motion for severance grounded on the claim that a joint trial will preclude a proffer of exculpatory testimony from a co-defendant. 8 Movant must establish to the satisfaction of the trial judge that the testimony in question is exculpatory in effect and that the designated co-defendant will in fact testify at a separate trial. 9 The trial judge is expressly empowered to examine the significance of the alleged exculpatory testimony in relation to the defensive theories relied upon and assess the extent to which the defendant will be prejudiced by the absence of the testimony. 10 Moreover, close attention to the interest in judicial economy is a permissible consideration in the trial judge's exercise of discretion. 11 41 As indicated above, the pre-trial motion for severance filed by appellant Scales contained no hint of a desire to call Joseph Scales as an exculpatory witness, and the motion, by default, failed to satisfy the minimal standards of specificity announced in Byrd and Martinez. Our examination of the record discloses no instance where appellant presented to the district court the theory he now argues on appeal. This antecedent defect in appellant's severance argument precludes an initial consideration on the merits at this late date. On this basis, we affirm the district court's denial of appellant Scales' motion for severance. 12 42 Appellants Edwards and Morrow, urging between themselves substantially similar arguments, attack the district court's refusal to grant their motions for severance. As an initial matter, both appellants contend that the complexity of the Government's case twenty-three defendants, all charged in a single conspiracy count, with only certain defendants charged in nine substantive counts prevented the jury from rationally assessing guilt on an individual basis, even when aided by precise instructions from the bench. We reject this argument. The general rule remains that persons jointly indicted should be tried together, 13 and we perceive no substantial reason to depart from the general rule in this case. 43 In reviewing a claim of undue complexity and confusion, an appellate court looks to the totality of the circumstances 14 in striking a balance between the interest in judicial economy and the need to protect the rights of the individual defendant. 15 A joint trial of twenty-three defendants, charged with conspiracy and numerous substantive counts, clearly raised the possibility that the jury might cumulate the evidence introduced by the Government on all counts and against all defendants to find guilty a defendant whose connection with the conspiracy was at best marginal. The pernicious effect of cumulation, however, is best avoided by precise instructions to the jury on the admissibility and proper uses of the evidence introduced by the Government. 16 The remedy of severance is justified only if the prejudice flowing from a joint trial is clearly beyond the curative powers of a cautionary instruction. Where the Government charges a single conspiracy, as it did here, much of the evidence introduced ultimately bears, at least indirectly, on the agreement of the co-conspirators. Once the Government has satisfactorily established the existence of the conspiracy, the same evidence used to convict a particular defendant is admissible against all co-defendants shown to be members of the conspiracy. 17 Given this state of affairs, the interest in judicial economy understandably exerts strong pressures in favor of a joint trial. 18 44 From our examination of the record as a whole, we are convinced that the trial judge clearly and adequately instructed the jury in a way that minimized the possibility that the jury might cumulate the Government's evidence. 19 Appellants have failed to demonstrate with particularity the compelling prejudice that must be present before we will reverse a district court's severance decision. Whatever confusion remained after the jury was properly instructed was not so great that appellants were denied a fair trial. 45 As a second line of argument, appellants assert that the quantity of evidence introduced against them was de minimus in relation to the evidence introduced against the other defendants and that they were prejudiced by this disparity. The argument is simply a variation on the argument of undue complexity rejected above; the assumption, at least, is that the jury was incapable of following its instructions to limit an assessment of guilt to the evidence properly admissible against a particular defendant. Severance under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14 is an appropriate remedy for a disparity in the evidence only in the most extreme cases. 20 The situation of appellants was by no measure extreme. As for appellant Edwards, we agree with the Government that the alleged disparity in the evidence simply does not exist. Edwards was a central figure in the conspiracy, and the evidence of his guilt was overwhelming. Appellant Morrow, on the other hand, presents a somewhat closer case. To substantiate the alleged disparity in the quantity of evidence introduced against him in relation to that introduced against the other defendants, appellant Morrow points to the scanty twenty-five pages of transcript devoted to testimony concerning his activities out of a total record of over fifty volumes. Needless to say, more is required to overturn on appeal the district court's exercise of discretion in denying a motion for severance. 21 It is not enough for appellant merely to show that he might have had a better chance at acquittal if tried separately. 22 We have held already that the evidence introduced by the Government and properly admissible against appellant Morrow was sufficient to sustain the jury's determination of guilt. Given the adequate and unambiguous instructions to the jury and the failure of appellant to demonstrate prejudice so extreme that it denied him a fair trial, we are of the view that the sufficiency of the evidence to support the finding of appellant's guilt foreclosed as a matter of law his argument that the district court abused its discretion in denying the motion for severance. 46 Appellants Edwards and Morrow tender one final argument in challenging the denial of their motions for severance: they contend that the Government's evidence established multiple conspiracies, rather than the single conspiracy charged in the indictment, and that the variance between the indictment and the proof necessitated a severance of the trial along structural lines. 23 In view of our holding that the Government's evidence was sufficient to support the jury's finding of a single conspiracy, we reject appellant's argument. 24 47 Appellants Brennan and Berman seek reversal of the district court's denial of their motions for severance with the argument that the entrapment defense used by appellant Edwards unduly prejudiced those defendants, including Brennan and Berman, who pleaded not guilty. Additionally, appellants Brennan and Berman contend that they should have been permitted simultaneously to plead entrapment and nonparticipation in the conspiracy. For the reasons that follow, we affirm the district court's denial of the motions for severance. 48 The inconsistency, if any, between the defense of entrapment relied on by one defendant and the defense of nonparticipation argued by one or more co-defendants in a multi-member conspiracy case has never been viewed by itself as necessitating severance under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. In all cases where a co-defendant pleads an allegedly inconsistent defense, such as entrapment, it is still incumbent upon the movant for severance to demonstrate a specific and compelling prejudice arising out of the inconsistency. 25 Appellants Brennan and Berman have not made this threshold showing. Indeed, from our examination of Edward's in-court testimony, we are constrained to agree with the Government that the testimony does not at any point contradict appellant's defense of nonparticipation in the conspiracy. In consequence, appellants' reliance on the decisions in Schaffer v. United States, 221 F.2d 17 (5 Cir. 1955), and Barton v. United States, 263 F.2d 894 (5 Cir. 1959), is misplaced. Both Schaffer and Barton raised the problem of severance in the face of a co-defendant's statements that clearly and directly implicated the movant, and in both cases we held that the district court abused its discretion in denying the motion for severance. The in-court testimony of appellant Edwards did not implicate, directly or indirectly, either Brennan or Berman. 49 Aside from a narrow exception, the clear rule in this circuit forbids a defendant from pleading entrapment and nonparticipation in the alternative. 26 In Sears v. United States, 343 F.2d 139, 143-44 (5 Cir. 1965), we held that a defendant may argue simultaneously that he was not a member of the conspiracy and that he was entrapped to commit the overt acts charged in the indictment. The holding in Sears is limited, however, to the situation where the Government's own case in chief injects substantial evidence to support a theory of entrapment. There is simply no evidence in the record of the instant case, introduced by either the Government or appellants, to support the theory that Brennan and Berman were entrapped in the conspiracy. The narrow Sears exception is inapplicable, the general rule controls, and we affirm the district court's refusal to allow appellants to plead in the alternative. 50