Opinion ID: 836476
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Negative Joinder and Affirmative Right to Severance

Text: The second question in the analysis is whether Tobey and MCR 6.120 allow joinder and mandate severance of offenses in a manner consistent with one another. MCR 6.120 permits joinder of offenses under any circumstances, which Tobey did not. However, MCR 6.120 also requires severance of unrelated offenses upon a defendant's timely motion for severance. As discussed previously, MCR 6.120 defined related offenses using language virtually identical to that used in Tobey. Thus, the sole substantive difference between Tobey and MCR 6.120 concerns whether joinder of offenses is allowed in the first instance. But where, as in the case before us, a defendant makes a timely motion for severance, this distinction makes no practical difference and does not render the two irreconcilable. [9]