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Misjoinder

By Melody Evans and Kirk Redmond

A rare reversal for misjoinder of tax and non-tax charges, and for consequential and prejudicial misjoinder of defendants, from the Second Circuit. This is a long opinion, but a careful analysis of Rule 8(a), concluding,Because commission of the alleged wire fraud and conspiracy neither depended upon nor necessarily led to the commission of the alleged 1996 tax misconduct and proof of the one act neither constituted nor depended upon proof of the other, joinder was improper. The charges are thus not "based on the same act or transaction, and are not connected with and do not constitute parts of a common scheme or plan" under Rule 8(a). (internal citations and quotations omitted)But the misjoinder did not just harm the defendant charged with the unrelated counts, but the co-defendant, who also appealed the misjoinder, even though he was not charged in the unrelated counts...continue to full post

Full post as published by Kansas Federal Defender on November 27, 2007 (boomark / email).