Opinion ID: 539182
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The Severance Contentions

Text: 135 Villegas, Johana Torrez, Berrio, Bolivar, and Heriberto Torrez contend that their trials should have been severed from the trial of their codefendants. Villegas, Berrio, and Bolivar contend that the joint trial prejudiced them because their defenses were antagonistic to the defenses of the other defendants. Johana Torrez, Berrio, Bolivar, and Heriberto Torrez contend that they were prejudiced by spillover from the government's case against the other defendants. We find merit in none of these contentions. 136 The disposition of a motion for severance pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 14 is committed to the sound discretion of the trial judge. United States v. Potamitis, 739 F.2d 784, 790 (2d Cir.), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 918, 105 S.Ct. 297, 83 L.Ed.2d 232 (1984); United States v. Cody, 722 F.2d 1052, 1061 (2d Cir.1983), cert. denied, 467 U.S. 1226, 104 S.Ct. 2678, 81 L.Ed.2d 873 (1984). In challenging a trial court's denial of a severance motion, a defendant must demonstrate that he suffered substantial prejudice as a result of the joint trial. United States v. Potamitis, 739 F.2d at 790. This is a heavy burden, requiring a showing that a miscarriage of justice has occurred. Id.
137 When the challenge to the denial of severance is premised on a claim that two defenses were antagonistic, a defendant satisfies his burden of showing substantial prejudice only if it can be said that  'the jury, in order to believe the core of testimony offered on behalf of [one] defendant, must necessarily disbelieve the testimony offered on behalf of his co-defendant.'  United States v. Potamitis, 739 F.2d at 790 (quoting United States v. Carpentier, 689 F.2d 21, 27-28 (2d Cir.1982), cert. denied, 459 U.S. 1108, 103 S.Ct. 735, 74 L.Ed.2d 957 (1983)). The mere fact that codefendants seek to place the blame on each other is not the sort of antagonism that requires a severance. United States v. Casamento, 887 F.2d 1141, 1154 (2d Cir.1989) (fingerpointing not sufficient), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 110 S.Ct. 1138, 107 L.Ed.2d 1043 (1990). Nor is it sufficient that one defendant contends that another coerced him to engage in the unlawful conduct if the jury could believe both that contention and the codefendant's defense. See United States v. Swingler, 758 F.2d 477, 494-96 (10th Cir.1985) (severance not required where one codefendant claimed he was coerced by members of motorcycle gang to participate in narcotics conspiracy, and gang member codefendant disclaimed involvement in conspiracy). Given this framework, the contentions of Villegas, Berrio, and Bolivar must fail. 138 Villegas's claim is that because it was plain that he had purchased the farm, the defenses of Berrio and Gomez that they were coerced into working at the farm were antagonistic to the defense of Villegas. Villegas's defense was that he had sufficient wealth to purchase Johnnycake farm with his own funds and that the evidence was insufficient to show that the purchase was financed by narcotics dealers. Neither Berrio nor Gomez testified that he had been coerced by Villegas. Gomez testified that he had been coerced only by a man named Arturo. The mere fact that the name Arturo was also found in one of the notebooks discovered at the farm did not make Villegas's defense of innocence fatally inconsistent with that of Gomez. The jury could, as a matter of logic, have believed both that Villegas had purchased the farm with his own funds and that no one had been coerced by Villegas. 139 Bolivar's claim of antagonistic defenses is flimsy in the extreme. Its premise is that since Bolivar was found in the basement with Gomez, the jury would infer that it was Bolivar who coerced Gomez into working at the farm. Again, however, Gomez did not testify that he was threatened by Bolivar but only by Arturo. Bolivar presented no defense other than his argument that the evidence was insufficient to convict him. The jury could logically have accepted that position while finding that Gomez had been coerced by Arturo. 140 Finally, Berrio's claim is that his coercion defense was generally antagonistic to virtually all of the other defendants. In support of this contention, he points out that other defendants objected frequently to his examination of certain witnesses (see, e.g., Part II.F.2. below), presenting to the jury the appearance of significant conflict. This vague and general assertion is entirely insufficient to show the kind of substantial prejudice that warrants a new trial for denial of severance.
141 A defendant who claims that he is entitled to a new trial because of prejudicial spillover bears an extremely heavy burden. United States v. Friedman, 854 F.2d 535, 563 (2d Cir.1988), cert. denied, --- U.S. ----, 109 S.Ct. 1637, 104 L.Ed.2d 153 (1989). In reviewing such a claim, we cannot assume that a multi-defendant drug trial is beyond the ken of the average juror, see United States v. Moten, 564 F.2d 620, 627 (2d Cir.) (multi-defendant narcotics trial not so complicated as to be beyond the comprehension of the jury), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 942, 98 S.Ct. 438, 54 L.Ed.2d 304 (1977), and we will look to a number of factors to determine whether the joinder was an abuse of discretion. We will consider, for example, to what extent the evidence presented at the joint trial would have been admitted at a single-defendant trial because of the alleged conspiratorial nature of the illegal activity. See United States v. Bari, 750 F.2d 1169, 1178 (2d Cir.1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1019, 105 S.Ct. 3482, 87 L.Ed.2d 617 (1985). We will also consider whether the jury was instructed to assess the evidence against each defendant separately from the proof against the other defendants, see United States v. Carson, 702 F.2d at 367, and whether there is an indication, such as different verdicts with respect to different defendants, that the jury heeded these instructions, see id. See generally United States v. Casamento, 887 F.2d at 1153. No one of these factors is dispositive. 142 In the present case, though the jury returned verdicts of guilty against all defendants on all counts, we see no indication that Johana Torrez, Berrio, Bolivar, or Heriberto Torrez was the victim of prejudicial spillover. We note that we have rejected the claims of Johana Torrez and Heriberto Torrez that the evidence was insufficient to support their convictions, see Part II.B. above, and that Berrio and Bolivar, appropriately, have not challenged the sufficiency of the evidence to convict them. Since each of these four defendants was charged with being a member of the cocaine manufacturing conspiracy and there was sufficient evidence to connect each with the conspiracy, all of the evidence as to each of the other defendants' acts in furtherance of the conspiracy was admissible against each of them. 143 In charging the jury, the trial court repeatedly stated the importance of considering each defendant separately and individually ... based upon the evidence which has been presented against him or her. It noted that a verdict of guilty against one defendant does not mean that you shall necessarily find the other defendants guilty of the same charges, and emphasized that the jury must determine the guilt or innocence of each of these defendants separately as to the count of conspiracy.... Each one stands or falls on the evidence which has been presented against that particular defendant. The jury plainly took these instructions seriously. During its deliberations, for example, it asked which documents had been admitted against which defendants. 144 Given the nature of the case, the evidence against these defendants, the instructions by the trial judge, and the questions of the jury, we find no merit in the claims of prejudicial spillover.