Is a motion to sever charges properly joined in a murder case?

California, United States of America


The following excerpt is from People v. O'Malley, 199 Cal.Rptr.3d 1, 365 P.3d 790, 62 Cal.4th 944 (Cal. 2016):

properly joined unless the defense made such a " 'clear showing of potential prejudice' " that the trial court's denial of defendant's severance motion amounted to an abuse of discretion. (People v. Vines (2011) 51 Cal.4th 830, 855, 124 Cal.Rptr.3d 830, 251 P.3d 943.)

In determining whether a trial court's refusal to sever charges amounts to an abuse of discretion, we consider four factors: (1) whether evidence of the crimes to be jointly tried is cross-admissible; (2) whether some charges are unusually likely to inflame the jury against the defendant; (3) whether a weak case has been joined with a stronger case so that the spillover effect of aggregate evidence might alter the outcome of some or all of the charges; and (4) whether any charge carries the death penalty or the joinder of charges converts the matter into a capital case. (People v. Geier (2007) 41 Cal.4th 555, 575, 61 Cal.Rptr.3d 580, 161 P.3d 104.)

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