Opinion ID: 387921
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: the prejudicial misjoinder claims

Text: 481 Appellants claim that Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 8 and 14 8 pertaining to joinder have been violated by this trial of nine defendants on 268 counts. The majority of the original panel found prejudicial misjoinder under these rules after the Title IX counts were invalidated following its interpretation of that statute. This reason for finding prejudicial misjoinder, of course, disappears when the statute is interpreted as it was written and, we believe, intended. This is particularly true in this case, since the indictment charged and the jury found all nine defendants guilty on both of the Title IX counts, and on at least three drug related offenses. 482 There is no doubt that extensive traffic in illegal drugs was the principal business of this illegal conspiracy, or that all defendants were engaged in it to a greater or lesser degree. The indictment, of course, also charged that a major subsidiary purpose was the fencing and distribution of stolen goods which had moved in interstate commerce. The defendants who were engaged primarily in this latter activity were shown to be associated in the stolen goods operation directly with one or more of the conspiracy's principals, Weintrub, Sutton and Adams. Thus the jury had evidence to find that all nine of the defendants had knowledge of and participated in the central conspiracy while some of the defendants were also parties to varying aspects of the subsidiary schemes of fencing and distribution of stolen goods in interstate commerce. 483 The claim of prejudicial joinder was advanced early in this prosecution. The indictment named 37 persons who were charged upon 329 counts. The District Court, through another judge, recognized the possible prejudice to some who might prove to be remote from the center of the conspiracy charged and ordered severance of 10 defendants for purposes of the instant trial. The District Judge who tried this case received motions for severance on grounds of prejudicial misjoinder and responded by severing the trial of one of the 10, Thomas Hill. 9 484 As Judge Engel pointed out in dissent in the panel decision, the Supreme Court in Schaffer v. United States, 362 U.S. 511, 514-17, 80 S.Ct. 945, 947, 4 L.Ed.2d 921 (1960), refused to reverse convictions under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14 for misjoinder when the government's indictment had been drawn in good faith and no prejudice was shown. On the facts previously described, we find it impossible to hold that this indictment was laid or prosecuted in bad faith or that the District Judge abused his discretion in failing to find prejudice and grant further severance.