Court Opinion

ID: 9489676
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 13:21:20.037589+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:53:39.483890
License: Public Domain

HANSEN, Circuit Judge,
dissenting in part.
I respectfully dissent from that part of the court’s opinion which reverses Douglas Allen Baker’s conviction for the singular reason that the district court did not sever his trial from that of his co-defendant, Leroy Charles Wheeler.4 I concur in that part of the opinion which affirms Wheeler’s conviction and sentence.
In my view, there is little reason to find this to be the rare case in which severance should have been granted. This was a single count indictment naming Wheeler and Baker as the only defendants; each was charged with aiding and abetting the other in knowingly possessing ricin for use as a weapon. The trial court went to some length to instruct the jury with respect to what evidence was admissible against which defendant, and to inform the jury that each defendant was to be judged only on that evidence which was admitted against that defendant.
I start with a proposition not mentioned in our court’s opinion-that severance is a matter committed to the sound discretion of the district court, and it is only when the district court abuses that discretion and a defendant can clearly demonstrate “severe or compelling prejudice” resulting therefrom that the nonsevered defendant is entitled to a new trial. United States v. Fregoso, 60 F.3d 1314, 1328 (8th Cir.1995) (internal quotations omitted).
“There is a preference in the federal system for joint trials of defendants who are indicted together.” Zafiro v. United States, 506 U.S. 534, 537, 113 S.Ct. 933, 937, 122 L.Ed.2d 317 (1993). Joint trials promote *340efficiency and serve the interests of justice. Id. Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. 200, 209-10, 107 S.Ct. 1702, 1708-09, 95 L.Ed.2d 176 (1987). A defendant seeking severance has the heavy burden of demonstrating that the joint trial will impermissibly infringe on his right to a fair trial. United States v. Darden, 70 F.3d 1507, 1527 (8th Cir.1995), cert. denied, — U.S. —, 116 S.Ct. 1449, 134 L.Ed.2d 569 (1996); United States v. Adkins, 842 F.2d 210, 212 (8th Cir.1988). The appellant must demonstrate that the jury was unable to compartmentalize the evidence as it relates to the two defendants. Adkins, 842 F.2d at 212.
The court finds prejudice because evidence was presented to the jury against Wheeler which would not have been admissible if Baker were tried separately. But that happens in most every trial where there is more than one defendant, and limiting instructions are usually deemed sufficient to cure any risk of prejudice. See Richardson, 481 U.S. at 206-208, 107 S.Ct. at 1706-08. When Loverink testified for the government about the conspiracy, the court was very careful to tell the jury not once, but twice, that it could not use Loverink’s testimony against Baker. (Tr. at 246-47 (before Loverink’s testimony); Tr. at 313-14 (after Loverink had testified).) The court relies on Zafiro, but Zafiro only says that a risk of prejudice “might ” occur when such evidence is admitted. Our court’s opinion grants relief without showing how the facts of this case turn “might occur” into “did occur.” The court also finds prejudice because Wheeler’s inculpatory statement (which the court agrees did not implicate Baker on its face but arguably does so when linked to other evidence) was admitted against Wheeler at the joint trial. The district court gave the jury the following instruction at the time the evidence about Wheeler’s statement was offered:
THE COURT: Now, members of the Jury, I’m going to give you another instruction at this time concerning this witness’ testimony relating to the certain statements alleged to have been made by the Defendants.
You’re about to hear testimony concerning statements made by the Defendants, as I said. You may consider the statement of defendant Wheeler only in the case against him and not in the case against defendant Baker. What that means is that you may consider defendant Wheeler’s statement in the case against him, and for that purpose rely on it as much or as little as you think proper. But you may not consider or discuss that statement in any way when you are deciding if the Government has proved beyond a reasonable doubt its case against defendant Baker.
(Tr. at 372-73.)
Such a procedure was expressly approved by the Supreme Court in Richardson v. Marsh, 481 U.S. at 211, 107 S.Ct. at 1709 (no Confrontation Claim violation when nontesti-fying codefendant’s statement which has been redacted to eliminate the codefendant’s name and any reference to the eodefendant’s existence is admitted at joint trial). In its final instructions the jury was told that it must give separate consideration to the evidence about each individual defendant and that each defendant was entitled to be treated separately. (Tr. at 558.) There is nothing in this record to indicate the jury failed to follow its instructions.
This was a simple, straightforward trial raising basic, noncomplex issues of possession and intent. The jury was only dealing with one count and two defendants. Only five witnesses were called by the government. The court’s limiting instructions were clear, correct, and appropriately given. Our court reasons that relief should be granted in part because “this is not the kind of case in which we can say, in light of the jury’s verdict that the jury was able to compartmentalize the evidence as it related to each defendant.” The court’s statement is true, but it is true in every ease where there is but a single count and two defendants. Absent a finding of not guilty as to one of the two defendants, there is no way the jury’s verdict proves or disproves its ability to compartmentalize the evidence. Because that is so, no inference either way can be drawn from this jury’s verdict. The burden remains on the defendant to show “real prejudice.” Adkins, 842 F.2d at 212.
*341Clearly, more evidence was presented against the defendant Wheeler than against the defendant Baker. Bnt that in itself is no basis for finding that the trials should have been severed. United States v. Davis, 882 F.2d 1334, 1340 (8th Cir.1989) (“ ‘Severance is not required merely because the evidence against one defendant is more damaging than the evidence against another. Severance becomes necessary where the proof is such that a jury could not be expected to compartmentalize the evidence as it relates to separate defendants.’ ”) (quoting United States v. Faul, 748 F.2d 1204, 1217 (8th Cir.1984), cert. denied, 472 U.S. 1027, 105 S.Ct. 3500, 3501, 87 L.Ed.2d 632 (1985)) (other internal quotations omitted), cert. denied, 494 U.S. 1027, 110 S.Ct. 1472, 108 L.Ed.2d 610 (1990).
In Davis, we held that a case involving two defendants, no complex issues, three days of trial, and eight counts was “a ease [where] a jury undoubtedly is capable of properly compartmentalizing the evidence.” 882 F.2d at 1340 (citations omitted) (emphasis added). The ease at bar is also one where the jury undoubtedly was capable of compartmentalizing the evidence pursuant to the experienced district court’s clear instructions. There is nothing in this record to indicate to the contrary.
To the extent that our court relies on the district court’s evidentiary error in admitting against Baker the advertisement for the castor beans from the CBA Bulletin and the book cover from Silent Death as proof that Baker suffered severe prejudice from the district court’s denial of his severance motion, ante at 335, 337, I believe the court’s reliance to be misplaced. Granting Baker a separate trial would not have prevented the same error from occurring because there is no reason to believe that at a separate trial for Baker, the government would not have offered the documents against him or that the district court would not have let them in. The two issues of evidentiary error by the district court and a jury’s ability or inability to compartmentalize the admitted evidence appear to me to be separate and independent, with neither impacting the other.
Because the defendant Baker has failed to carry his burden of demonstrating “real prejudice” caused by the joint trial (as opposed to evidentiary error), he has also failed to show that the district court abused its broad discretion in denying his Rule 14 severance motion. Consequently, I would affirm Baker’s conviction and sentence.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

. As I read the court’s opinion, it does not reverse Baker's conviction for evidentiary error but instead finds the evidence against Baker sufficient to support the jury’s guilty verdict. Ante at 338-339.