Opinion ID: 784866
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Pre-Trial Denial of Motions for Severance (Gonzalez-Ayala, de León Maysonet)

Text: 80 Gonzalez-Ayala and de León Maysonet appeal from the district court's denial of their motions to be severed and tried with the second group of defendants. On December 28, 1998, the day on which jury selection began, the district court decided to split the sixteen defendants who planned to go to trial into two groups. The government proposed that the first ten defendants on the indictment become the first group to go to trial. The government's reasoning was that this division would allow the prosecution to try[] the senior conspirators together, that is the principal leaders, and the organizers and supervisors of the conspiracy and to try[] the conspirators who planned and carried [out] numerous acts of violence within the conspiracy together. The district court initially accepted this proposal but then severed one defendant to allow for a mental competency hearing, another defendant because he was on bond, and yet another defendant because his counsel withdrew from the case on that day. Two other defendants were severed because they could not yet proceed to trial; one was still a fugitive and the other, Rodríguez-López, had been indicted only two weeks earlier. Having severed five defendants, the district court was left with the eleven appellants and decided to proceed to trial with all eleven. 81 Gonzalez-Ayala and de León Maysonet contend that the district court erred in refusing to sever their cases. Rule 14, Fed.R.Crim.P., allows a trial court to sever defendants when joinder would prejudice them. Gonzalez-Ayala and de León Maysonet argue that the joinder prejudiced them by forcing them to go to trial with more senior conspirators. They contend that the complexity of the case and the markedly different degrees of culpability between them and their co-defendants, many of whom committed murders or held leadership positions in the conspiracy, created the potential for jury confusion. Moreover, they argue that they were prejudiced by the presentation of spillover evidence regarding fifteen murders committed by their co-defendants, in which they did not participate. 82 We review the district court's denial of defendants' motions for severance under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14 for abuse of discretion. United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438, 449 n. 12, 106 S.Ct. 725, 88 L.Ed.2d 814 (1986); United States v. DeLuca, 137 F.3d 24, 36 (1st Cir.1998). To demonstrate abuse of discretion, defendants must show that joinder deprived them of a fair trial, resulting in a miscarriage of justice. United States v. Baltas, 236 F.3d 27, 33 (1st Cir.2001). Because the general rule is that those indicted together are tried together to prevent inconsistent verdicts and to conserve judicial and prosecutorial resources, severance is particularly difficult to obtain where, as here, multiple defendants share a single indictment. United States v. O'Bryant, 998 F.2d 21, 25 (1st Cir.1993). 83 Defendants have not made such a strong showing of prejudice. As to the murder evidence, defendants cannot complain of an improper spillover effect where evidence is independently admissible against them. United States v. Brandon, 17 F.3d 409, 440 (1st Cir.1994); O'Bryant, 998 F.2d at 26. Because conspiracy cases often involve evidence that is admissible against all members of the conspiracy, in the context of conspiracy, severance will rarely, if ever, be required. DeLuca, 137 F.3d at 36 (quoting Flores-Rivera, 56 F.3d at 325 (internal quotation marks and citations omitted)). Here, the murder evidence would likely be admissible against Gonzalez-Ayala and de León Maysonet even in a separate trial in order to demonstrate the operation and development of the conspiracy's system of common defense. 84 As to the complexity of the case and the potential for jury confusion, there is no indication that the jury was unable to distinguish the evidence and acts relating to each defendant. The court instructed the jury that each defendant must be judged separately based on the evidence admissible against him. Defendants are not entitled to severance solely on the basis that their co-defendants were more culpable. See Flores-Rivera, 56 F.3d at 325; Brandon, 17 F.3d at 440-41. 85