Opinion ID: 2615843
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: severance and election

Text: Catlett's first argument is that the superior court erred in not severing the charges or ordering the state to elect one charge under which to proceed. Criminal Rule 8(a) provides for the consolidation of two or more offenses in the same indictment if the offenses charged are of the same or similar character or are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. If, however, it appears that the defendant is prejudiced by a joinder of offenses. . in an indictment ... the court may order an election or separate trials of counts... . Criminal Rule 14. Once the trial court has made a decision based on Criminal Rule 14, that decision may be overturned only where the court has abused its discretion and where prejudice to the defendant has been shown. Stevens v. State, 582 P.2d 621, 628 (Alaska 1978); Richards v. State, 451 P.2d 359, 361-62 (Alaska 1969). We find that the court did not abuse its discretion in denying defendant's requests. The case involved two criminal charges arising out of the same incident. It was obvious to the trial court that much of the evidence adduced in seeking a prosecution under one count would be relevant to the other count. The public interest of avoiding duplicative trials can reasonably have been thought to outweigh the possible prejudice which might inhere in a combined trial.