Opinion ID: 2639110
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 8

Heading: Did the Trial Court Err in Denying Mays' Motion for Severance?

Text: In his pro se brief, Mays argues the trial court erred in denying his motion to sever his trial from that of his codefendants. Mays argues he and his codefendants had antagonistic defenses and that if their trials had been severed Mays could have called the other defendants as witnesses. Mays did not file a written motion to sever, as did his other codefendants. However, during voir dire at the first trial setting in October 2000, Mays' counsel orally joined in the codefendants' motion to sever based upon Mays' defense of PTSD. The trial court stated it would hear that matter later. As discussed above, the court eventually declared a mistrial because of lack of jurors and rescheduled the trial for January 2001. Before that trial began, Mays' counsel asked the court to clarify whether she would be able to present Dr. Logan's testimony about Mays' diagnosis of PTSD and whether she could refer to that evidence in her opening statement. When other counsel expressed concern that Mays' defense might be antagonistic to theirs, Mays' counsel stated, So, Judge, I also remembered that when we were in here in October I did ask the Court to sever the trial and I asked for severance on Shawndell and I don't believe the Court ever ruled on that. The codefendants also renewed their motions for severance. The trial court denied the codefendants' motion to sever, ruling that their defenses were not antagonistic. This court considered and rejected codefendant White's argument that his trial should have been severed based on antagonistic defenses in State v. White, 275 Kan. 580, 590-91, 67 P.3d 138 (2003): Shawndell Mays did not point the finger at White. Further, neither Dr. Logan's testimony nor Shawndell Mays' defense were irreconcilable with White's assertion that he acted in self-defense and was objectively justified in doing so. White's statement was that he fired four or five shots after he was shot at or observed a known aggressor reaching for a gun. Dr. Logan's testimony did not negate such classic self-defense situations and implicitly strengthened White's contention that the tension between the two factions was intense. While there may have been some inconsistency in the evidence, there was not a dichotomy in the defenses. As presented, the defenses were not mutually exclusive. [Citation omitted.] Nor has there been any showing of actual prejudice. Mays' argument that the codefendants had antagonistic defenses is the same argument made by White and is similarly rejected. Mays also contends that, had his case been severed, he would have been able to offer all of the evidence in support of his defense instead of merely relying on the testimony of Dr. Logan. He argues his codefendants would have testified that Mays was under the influence of PCP (wet) during the shootings and that there was no agreement to commit the murders. There is no indication in the record that Mays raised this argument before the trial court; rather, he relied solely upon the argument that his defense of PTSD was different from his codefendants' defenses. Under these circumstances, it cannot be said that the trial court's denial of his motion to sever was an abuse of discretion. See White, 275 Kan. at 589-91.