Opinion ID: 2076061
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The denial of the stepfather's motion for severance.

Text: The stepfather contended below, and now reiterates on appeal, that the allegations against him should have been tried separately from those against the mother. He argues as follows: Severance was required to ensure a fair trial for the appellant. He was charged with abusing his step-daughter. The mother, C.B., was charged with failure to protect. From the petition and complaint, it was obvious that the evidence in regard to the mother would involve what she had been told, when she had been informed of possible incidents, and what she had done in response to that information. It was also clear that whatever evidence was to be brought against the mother could contain a great deal of material that was inadmissible as against the father, but highly prejudicial to his defense. Much of it would be emotional and inflammatory, given the nature of the charges. The opportunity for the father to have a fair trial under such circumstances would be heavily compromised. The trial itself was proof of appellant's worst fears about a joint trial. More than three-fourths of the trial involved the Government's efforts to prove the charges against the mother, most of it as expected with emotionally-charged evidence that was not admissible as evidence against the father. Noting that the proceedings involved serious charges against him and implicated fundamental liberty interests, the stepfather argues that guidance from and reference to criminal law procedures seems appropriate. Neglect proceedings are remedial and focus on the child; they are critically different from criminal prosecutions, which are primarily concerned with the allegedly abusive parent. See In re S.K., 564 A.2d 1382, 1388-89 (D.C.1989). Nevertheless, we agree that in the area of joinder and severance, precedents in criminal cases can provide us with some guidance. [5] We are satisfied, in any event, that the trial judge acted well within his discretion in denying the stepfather's motion for a severance. If the stepfather and mother had been criminally prosecuted on the basis of the facts adduced at trial, the offenses would have been properly joined. The allegations that the stepfather abused S.G. and that the mother failed to prevent the abuse plainly mean that the two are accused of participat[ing] in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses within the meaning of D.C.Code § 23-111(a) (1989) and Super.Ct.Crim.R. 8(b). The only substantive question, were this a criminal case, would be whether the trial judge abused his discretion by denying the stepfather's motion for a severance. See D.C.Code § 23-113 (1989) and Super. Ct.Crim.R. 14. Since the charges against the stepfather and the mother were properly joined, there is a strong presumption that, even in a criminal proceeding, they would be tried together. King v. United States, 550 A.2d 348, 352 (D.C.1988). [J]oinder serves to expedite the administration of justice, reduce congestion of trial dockets, conserve judicial time ... and avoid the necessity of recalling witnesses who would otherwise be called upon to testify only once. Jennings v. United States, 431 A.2d 552, 556 (D.C.1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1135, 102 S.Ct. 2964, 73 L.Ed.2d 1353 (1982). Moreover, the trial judge has wide latitude in determining whether to grant or deny a motion for severance of defendants, and our review is limited to a determination whether his discretion was abused. King, supra, 550 A.2d at 352. In the present case, the granting of the stepfather's motion for a severance would not only have contributed to court congestion and inconvenienced counsel and witnesses, but would have required S.G., a child not yet in her teens, to testify for a second time about the painful and humiliating experiences which gave rise to this unfortunate case. This would surely have added, unnecessarily and impermissibly, to the distress which S.G. had already suffered. As the Supreme Court recently reiterated in Maryland v. Craig, ___ U.S. ___, 110 S.Ct. 3157, 111 L.Ed.2d 666 (1990), the public interest in protecting minor victims of sex crimes from further trauma and embarrassment is a compelling one. The Court held in that case that what it described as the State's transcendent interest in protecting the welfare of children, id. at ___, 110 S.Ct. at 3170, [6] which finds support in the growing body of academic literature documenting the psychological trauma suffered by child abuse victims who must testify in court, id., may outweigh even the defendant's right under the Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment to face his accuser in the courtroom. If the protection of a child from a single face-to-face confrontation with the alleged abuser is such a compelling consideration that it warrants a constricted reading of an express constitutional guarantee, then the trial judge surely acted within his broad discretion when he denied the motion for separate trials here and declined to require S.G. to testify twice. Moreover, as we stated in Winestock v. United States, 429 A.2d 519, 527 (D.C. 1981), [i]n order to establish that the trial judge has abused his discretion in denying him a severance, a defendant must show the most compelling prejudice. (Citation and internal quotation marks omitted.) There is no basis for such a finding of prejudice in this case. There was no jury. We recently observed in Nolan v. Nolan, 568 A.2d 479, 488 (D.C.1990), that this court has often acknowledged the ability of trial judges to separate admissible from inadmissible evidence in rendering judgment on the merits. As we stated in In re L.J.W., 370 A.2d 1333, 1336 (D.C. 1977), a juvenile delinquency case, [t]his court has recognized the `presumption that a trial court will disregard all irrelevant matters in making its adjudications.' In re W.N.W., D.C.App., 343 A.2d 55, 58 (1975). Where, as here, the evidence presented is admissible for one purpose (admission of co-respondent) but not admissible for another purpose (implicating appellant in the crime), [t]he judge will be presumed to have disregarded the inadmissible and relied on the competent evidence. McCORMICK ON EVIDENCE § 60, at 137 (2d ed. 1972). [7] There is no evidence here that the trial judge was unable, in evaluating the case against the stepfather, to restrict his consideration to evidence admissible against him. Indeed, in admitting the testimony of several government witnesses to the effect that the mother acknowledged to them that she knew of some incidents of abuse, the judge expressly stated that this testimony would not be considered as substantive evidence against the stepfather. Accordingly, there being no showing of prejudice, we are not prepared to hold that the judge abused his discretion.