Opinion ID: 1857777
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Failure of the trial court to sua sponte sever the case

Text: ¶ 31. Defendants also argue the trial court erred by not sua sponte ordering the trial to be severed. This assignment of error appears to be the defendants' fall-back position should this Court find that they did not pursue their motion to sever to decision as required by URCCC 2.04. [3] Alternatively, the defendants might have made this argument out of concern for the potentially deficient record they provided to the Court. See Acker v. State, 797 So.2d 966, 971 (Miss.2001) (Our law is clear that an appellant must present to us a record sufficient to show the occurrence of the error he asserts and also that the matter was properly presented to the trial court and timely preserved.). Regardless, this issue is meritless based on our discussion in Part I. The defendants failed to demonstrate that the trial court abused its discretion by not severing their trial. Therefore, the trial court cannot be put in error for failing to sua sponte sever the trial when it was not required to do so even upon a proper motion.