Opinion ID: 561245
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Joinder Under Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(b)

Text: 82 Appellants next contend that the district court committed reversible error by failing to grant their motion for severance because counts of the indictment were improperly joined under Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(b). 28 Rule 8(b) permits joinder of defendants where the offenses are part of the same series of acts or transactions. 29 We review the correctness of Rule 8 joinder de novo. United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438, 106 S.Ct. 725, 88 L.Ed.2d 814 (1986). 83 Appellants emphasize that the counts in the first revised indictment on which the trial commenced included the Master Chemical, creosote, xylene and solid waste fraud counts, all of which were dropped either during or at the close of the government's case, except the Master Chemical counts. The creosote counts of the first revised indictment charged that, in September 1985, MacDonald & Watson, NIC, D'Allesandro and Slade, inter alia, violated 42 U.S.C. Secs. 6928(d)(1) and (d)(2)(A) in connection with transportation and disposal of creosote and sand contaminated with creosote from Walpole Woodworkers, located in Harwichport, Massachusetts, without a permit at NIC. The xylene counts of the first revised indictment charged that, between January 1, 1984 and June 30, 1985, MacDonald & Watson, NIC, D'Allesandro, and Vincent Cinquegrano knowingly disposed of xylene and xylene sludge without a permit by dumping the waste into piles of soil at NIC's property at the Poe Street facility, in violation of 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6928(d)(2)(A). The solid waste fraud counts of the first revised indictment related to Rhode Island's solid waste management facility's licensing requirements. The indictment charged that MacDonald & Watson, NIC, D'Allesandro, and Cinquegrano devised a scheme to defraud Rhode Island and Providence Plantations out of its right to collect license fees for a landfill facility in Johnstown, Rhode Island and for the Poe Street facility. The indictment also charged that, as part of this scheme, the defendants committed fraud by accepting waste from a number of sources at the Johnstown and Poe Street facilities for disposal, and transferring some of this material from Poe Street to Johnstown. The indictment charged that neither MacDonald & Watson nor NIC had a permit to operate a transfer station (a facility where collection vehicles transfer solid waste to haulage vehicles for transportation to a final disposal site), at the Poe Street site or a solid waste management facility at the Johnstown site. 84 Appellants contend these counts were improperly joined, and they were prejudiced, as the counts were not based on the same series of acts or transactions 30 because they occurred over a lengthy period of time, involved different chemicals, different generators, different participants, and different criminal activity. They emphasize that the Master Chemical, creosote and xylene counts involved three separate transactions, without any interconnecting common scheme or plan, which occurred in mid-1986, September 1985, and June 1985, respectively. Appellants also contend that the solid waste fraud counts were unrelated to any other counts in that: (1) two appellants, Ritarossi and Slade, were unimplicated; (2) the fraud was alleged to have occurred from 1983 to 1986 (largely prior to the other counts); (3) the only common site involved was the Poe Street facility; and (4) the allegations concerned fraudulent failure to pay license fees to the State of Rhode Island for disposal of non-hazardous oil wastes, and were unrelated to improper disposal of hazardous wastes alleged in the remaining counts. The government does not contest any of appellants' distinctions, but responds that sufficiently overlapping facts and law for the various transactions justified joinder, as the defendants generally overlap in the various counts and the MacDonald & Watson/NIC relationship at the Poe Street facility is pertinent to all counts. 85 Joinder of defendants promotes judicial economy and also allows the jury to draw consistent conclusions about common factual questions. The rule balances these benefits against the presumptive prejudice inherent in the consolidation of parties or offenses.... United States v. Turkette, 632 F.2d 896, 906 (1st Cir.1980), rev'd on other grounds, 452 U.S. 576, 101 S.Ct. 2524, 69 L.Ed.2d 246 (1981). See United States v. Doherty, 867 F.2d 47, 63 (1st Cir.), cert. denied, 492 U.S. 918, 109 S.Ct. 3243, 106 L.Ed.2d 590 (1989); United States v. Arruda, 715 F.2d 671, 678 (1st Cir.1983); King v. United States, 355 F.2d 700, 703-04 (1st Cir.1966); see also United States v. Gomez-Pabon, 911 F.2d at 860 n. 7. Central to application of Rule 8(b) is the meaning of the phrase same series of acts or transactions. Appellants cite conspiracy as an interconnection between disparate acts justifying joinder under Rule 8(b). We have found transactions sufficiently interconnected to permit joinder of defendants where the seller of drugs was the same in both counts, though buyers charged in the two sales were unrelated, United States v. Barbosa, 666 F.2d 704, 707-08 (1st Cir.1981); where conspirators stole police promotional exams on various occasions over six years, though those charged with receiving the exams were not related, Doherty, 867 F.2d at 63; and where defendants were charged as coconspirators, Arruda, 715 F.2d at 678. Classic examples of such a benefit [to the court justifying joinder] are when there is an overlapping of issues, as, for example, when some defendants are charged with transporting stolen goods in interstate commerce and others are charged with receiving the goods, so stolen and transported. King, 355 F.2d at 704. Nevertheless, we have held that something more than mere 'similar acts'  is required, United States v. Turkette, 632 F.2d at 907, and that some relatedness between offenses is necessary for there to be a series of acts or transactions.... Relatedness of offenses can be established by demonstrating that essentially the same facts must be shown for each of the consolidated crimes. Id. at 907-08. In Turkette, we found joinder improper because narcotics violations evidence was unnecessary to prove the arson-mail fraud and vice versa. Id. at 909. 86 Here, we think that Rule 8(b) joinder was proper. The Master Chemical creosote, xylene and solid waste fraud counts all were MacDonald & Watson transactions involving disposal of waste at the same site, involving largely the same MacDonald and Watson personnel, and occurring within a relatively short time frame. While no conspiracy was alleged here, we think that joinder is similarly appropriate where a corporation and its employees are alleged to have committed the same illegal acts involving the same corporate site on several occasions. As in a conspiracy case, the relationship between the defendants and their responsibilities in carrying out the alleged illegal activity would be the same in all cases, and the benefits of joinder--saving time and promoting consistency in the determination of common factual questions--apply. 31 Conclusion 87 In sum, we affirm the convictions of Faust Ritarossi, Francis Slade and MacDonald & Watson. We vacate the convictions of Eugene D'Allesandro and of NIC and remand for a new trial or such other action as may be consistent herewith. 88 So ordered.