Opinion ID: 551535
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Samuel Smith

Text: 42 Samuel Smith contends he was entitled to severance because the evidence showed him to be only a minor actor; the great majority of the evidence offered at trial bore on counts against the others, and he suffered prejudice as a result of spillover from the mass of evidence against them. He was tried on only two counts, but one of these was the conspiracy count that named all defendants in the case. The government's evidence against Samuel Smith consisted for the most part of a single witness, Alice Rolle, who provided evidence of both Smith's guilt and the guilt of other defendants. 43 A defendant does not suffer compelling prejudice, sufficient to mandate a severance, simply because much of the evidence at trial is applicable only to co-defendants. E.g., U.S. v. Pritchett, 908 F.2d 816, at 822 (11th Cir.1990). The possible prejudicial effects of such disparity can be significantly alleviated if the trial judge is careful to instruct the jury that it must consider the evidence against each defendant on a separate and independent basis. Id. The trial judge so instructed the jury in this case on multiple occasions. Denial of Samuel Smith's motion for severance was not an abuse of discretion.