Opinion ID: 202690
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Severance and Bifurcation

Text: 54 Appellate review of trial court decisions to sever trials of criminal co-defendants is for manifest abuse of discretion. United States v. DeLeon, 187 F.3d 60, 63 (1st Cir.1999); Boylan, 898 F.2d at 246. Ordinarily, criminal co-defendants are to be tried together. United States v. Houle, 237 F.3d 71, 75-76 (1st Cir.2001). This rule has particular resonance in drug conspiracy cases, where multiple defendants often share a single indictment. See United States v. Soto-Beníquez, 356 F.3d 1, 29 (1st Cir.2003). Tejeda bears the burden of making a strong showing of prejudice in order to gain a new trial. Boylan, 898 F.2d at 246 (quoting United States v. Porter, 764 F.2d 1, 12 (1st Cir. 1985)) (internal quotation marks omitted). 55 Tejeda twice moved to sever his trial from that of his co-defendants. He did so as to all co-defendants by motion before trial. Later, on the first day of trial, he orally moved to sever his trial from that of co-defendant Figueroa, after he learned that Figueroa would testify and present a battered woman defense as to her relationship with Mendes. 5 Her testimony would be that Mendes regularly beat her. Her proffer indicated that she would not implicate Tejeda in the abuse she suffered. 56 On appeal, the only issue has to do with the motions to sever the case against Figueroa. Tejeda's severance motion argued that it was likely that Figueroa would take the stand and admit her involvement in the conspiracy, but present a case of duress because she had been under the influence of Mendes, who had pled guilty. The court denied the motion for severance saying Tejeda could cross-examine Figueroa, and that no inconsistent defenses were involved. 57 On May 12, 2005, Tejeda proposed to the trial court that it bifurcate the trial, differentiating the evidence applicable to his case and to Figueroa's. Specifically, Tejeda proposed that he put on his case, the prosecution put on its rebuttal, then the jury decide on Tejeda's guilt or innocence alone. Thereafter, Figueroa would present her defense, the prosecution its rebuttal, and the jury would then render its verdict as to Figueroa. The court denied Tejeda's motion. The motion was renewed at the close of the prosecution's case-in-chief and again denied. 58 The prosecution questions whether the severance motion on the day of trial and the bifurcation motion 6 were timely. See Fed.R.Crim.P. 12(b)(3)(D) (severance motions must be made before trial). We bypass the question and rule on the merits. 59 Severance should be granted where defenses are so irreconcilable as to involve fundamental disagreement over core and basic facts.  United States v. Peña-Lora, 225 F.3d 17, 34 (1st Cir.2000) (quoting United States v. Paradis, 802 F.2d 553, 561 (1st Cir.1986) (emphases added)) (internal quotation marks omitted). But where there is merely some dissonance, where the defenses are just somewhat antagonistic, we will usually not reverse a trial court's denial of severance. United States v. Serafino, 281 F.3d 327, 329 (1st Cir.2002). Tejeda relies on United States v. Johnson, 478 F.2d 1129 (5th Cir.1973), to argue that severance was necessary in this case. But in Johnson, the co-defendants' theories of defense were truly antagonistic. While Johnson defended on the basis that he was not present when the charged crime was committed, his co-defendant made a confession explicitly and necessarily incriminating Johnson and defended only on the basis that he lacked the necessary mens rea. Id. at 1131-32. 60 Here, by contrast, there was no true antagonism of defenses. Tejeda's defense explicitly acknowledged there was a drug conspiracy; he simply argued the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was the New York source of drugs for the conspiracy. Thus, Figueroa's defense that there was a drug conspiracy, but that she had acted under duress, was not an antagonistic defense at all. Her defense did not in any way hinge on Tejeda's participation in the conspiracy. Indeed, even if the jury accepted her duress defense it could either accept or reject Tejeda's defense. Severance is not required every time a duress defense is asserted by one defendant. Peña-Lora, 225 F.3d at 34; United States v. Arias-Villanueva, 998 F.2d 1491, 1507 (9th Cir.1993), overruled on other grounds by United States v. Jimenez-Ortega, 472 F.3d 1102, 1102-04 (9th Cir.2007). 61 Even if Tejeda had shown that severance from Figueroa was appropriate in this drug conspiracy case, it was his burden to show prejudice. Boylan, 898 F.2d at 246; Porter, 764 F.2d at 12. [P]rejudice means more than just a better chance of acquittal at a separate trial. Boylan, 898 F.2d at 246 (quoting United States v. Martinez, 479 F.2d 824, 828 (1st Cir.1973)) (internal quotation marks omitted). Garden variety prejudice, which always exists when more than one defendant or offense are tried together, does not warrant a new trial. Id. Tejeda has not met his burden here. 62 Tejeda's real argument is not one of antagonism. It is that Figueroa's testimony about being regularly beaten by her boyfriend Mendes, the head of the conspiracy, would spill over to Tejeda, who was accused of conspiring with Mendes in drug distribution. This is a sort of argument that you are known by the friends you keep, and bad friends will taint you in the jury's eyes. It is almost inherent in drug conspiracy cases that a co-conspirator may have engaged in other types of blameworthy conduct. That is not enough to warrant severance of co-defendants' trials. While Mendes' treatment of Figueroa may have been more shocking than run-of-the-mill blameworthy conduct from drug co-conspirators, Tejeda's role in the conspiracy—as a geographically-removed supplier several states distant—lessened the risk that the jurors might ascribe Mendes' conduct to him. Moreover, the trial judge instructed the jury that evidence of Mendes' mistreatment of Figueroa was not to be considered in the case against Tejeda. 63 Figueroa did identify Tejeda in court as the drug ring's New York source of supply. She also testified about numerous trips to New York to pick up drugs. But all of this testimony, including the identification, was cumulative of Eldridge's testimony. There was more than sufficient evidence against Tejeda without Figueroa's identification. In any event, Figueroa's testimony regarding Tejeda was admissible against Tejeda regardless of whether the trials were severed. Further, Tejeda was permitted to cross-examine Figueroa at trial, minimizing any thought of misconduct by association. 64 The district court did not abuse its discretion in denying the severance motion. Nor was there any abuse of discretion in the denial of the bifurcation procedure. Such a procedure risked confusion of the jury and unwarranted singling out of the case against Tejeda. 65 Given that we have found no error in the district court's handling of the throat-slitting gesture or the severance and bifurcation motions, Tejeda's cumulative error claim is without merit.