Opinion ID: 1757479
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Whether the trial court erred in allowing a multi-count indictment.

Text: Eakes claims the multi-count indictment is improper because the alleged offenses are not based on two or more connected acts or transactions, and are not separate parts of a common scheme or plan. Instead, the time period between the offenses should have mandated severance of the counts for trial. The trial court's failure to follow the proper procedure upon request for severance is, according to Eakes, cause for reversal. The State answers that the multi-count indictment was proper because the incidents were connected by the identity of victim and identity of the act committed. Moreover, the trial judge followed the procedure recommended and held a hearing on the severance motion. Finally, according to the State, Miss. Code Ann. § 99-7-2 allows a single trial for two or more offenses properly charged in a multi-count indictment.
When a multi-count indictment has been returned and the defendant requests severance, a hearing should be held on the issue. Corley v. State, 584 So.2d 769, 772 (Miss. 1991). The State bears the burden of a prima facie showing that the offenses are within the language of Miss. Code Ann. § 99-7-2 (1994), which allows multi-count indictments. Corley, 584 So.2d at 772. If this burden is met by the State, the defense may rebut by showing that the offenses were separate and distinct acts or transactions. Id. The trial court should consider the time period between the offenses, whether evidence proving each offense would be admissible to prove the other counts, [7] and whether the offenses are interwoven. Id. If this procedure is followed, this Court will give deference to the trial court's findings on review, employing the abuse of discretion standard. Corley, 584 So.2d at 772. Eakes was heard on the severance issue pre-trial. First, the defense claimed that separate events over a wide number of days could not be combined in a multi-count indictment, citing McCarty v. State, 554 So.2d 909 (Miss. 1989). The State cited Allman v. State, 571 So.2d 244 (Miss. 1990) in support of a finding that the offenses with which Eakes was charged were within the language of § 99-7-2. The defense did not rebut this showing and, in fact, apparently decided not to pursue further the motion to sever. Nonetheless, it is clear that the trial court considered the time period between the offenses and whether evidence proving one offense would be admissible to prove the other counts if separate trials were held. [8] Although the trial judge expressed his hesitancy to sever, no formal ruling was made on the motion when it was not pursued. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-7-2 (Supp. 1994) provides that two or more offenses may be charged in the same indictment, using separate counts for each offense, if (a) the offenses are based on the same act or transaction; or (b) the offenses are based on two (2) or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-7-2(1) (1994). Use of the disjunctive or provides three options. However, this Court stated, in McCarty, that either a common transaction or occurrence is required or, if the transactions occurred at different times, the time period between them must be insignificant in order that a multi-count indictment be permissible. McCarty, 554 So.2d at 915. Restated, a finding that the intervening time period is insignificant is a prerequisite to both the second and third options of § 99-7-2(1), i.e., that the transactions are either connected or part of a common scheme or plan. This Court subsequently explained that transactions involving the same victim and the same kind of act committed by the same defendant are connected, for purposes of § 99-7-2. Allman v. State, 571 So.2d 244, 248 (Miss. 1990). The Court in Allman also determined that the two rapes and the attempt at issue [9] were part of a common scheme or plan. [10] Allman, 571 So.2d at 248-49. Implicit in the Allman holding is a finding that the length of intervening time periods is insignificant. The transactions upon which Eakes' offenses are based occurred over a period of five months. This time period is insignificant, given that nine months was insignificant in Allman. The transactions in the case sub judice involve the same victim and the same type of act; therefore, the transactions are connected, pursuant to Allman. Eakes' alleged offenses also appear to have been part of a common plan as the offenses were committed only against April Myers even when other children, including her sister, were present and available targets. Had the charges been severed, evidence of each offense would have been admissible at trials for the other offenses. Mitchell v. State, 539 So.2d 1366, 1372 (Miss. 1989) (evidence of other sexual relations by the defendant with the victim admissible to show the defendant's lustful, lascivious disposition toward the victim). Pursuant to two of the three options presented by § 99-7-2(1), the offenses were properly combined in a multi-count indictment. Section 99-7-2 further provides that multiple offenses properly charged in a single indictment are properly tried in a single trial. Miss. Code Ann. § 99-7-2(2) (Supp. 1994). It follows that Eakes' offenses were properly tried in a single proceeding. There is no error here.