U.S. v. Chambers

Decision Date07 May 1992
Docket NumberNo. 91-1956,91-1956
Citation964 F.2d 1250
PartiesUNITED STATES, Appellee, v. James CHAMBERS, Defendant, Appellant. . Heard
CourtU.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit

Charles P. McGinty, Federal Defender Office, Boston, Mass., for defendant, appellant.

Elizabeth Keeley, Asst. U.S. Atty., with whom Wayne A. Budd, U.S. Atty., Boston, Mass., was on brief, for appellee.

Before BREYER, Chief Judge, ALDRICH and COFFIN, Senior Circuit Judges.

BREYER, Chief Judge.

A jury convicted James Chambers of six counts of bank robbery, 18 U.S.C. § 2113(a), and the district judge sentenced him to 216 months in prison and thirty-six months of supervised release. Chambers appeals his convictions, claiming that the district court prejudiced his case when it permitted a joint trial of the six counts, under Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(a), and when it denied his motion to sever the counts, under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. We find no error on the part of the trial judge, and we affirm the convictions.

The court permitted the counts to be joined pursuant to Fed.R.Crim.P. 8(a), which provides that

Two or more offenses may be charged in the same indictment or information in a separate count for each offense if the offenses charged, whether felonies or misdemeanors or both, are of the same or similar character ...

We review joinder under Rule 8(a) de novo, as a question of law. See United States v. L'Allier, 838 F.2d 234, 240 (7th Cir.1988). In this case, we find that the similarities among the six charged offenses are more than adequate to meet the Rule's standard. Each of the six robberies involved a similar institutional victim--a federally insured bank. All the robberies occurred in a short period, between May 1 and July 14, 1989, and in a limited area, the greater Boston area. The six tellers who were robbed testified at trial, and each described a similar modus operandi during the robberies, with the robber always wearing a hat or cap, always threatening violence with a bomb or gun, and always giving the teller a handwritten note demanding money in basically the same language. In such a case, involving similar counts, institutional victims, mode of operation and time period, joinder is proper. See United States v. Gray, 958 F.2d 9, 14 (1st Cir.1992).

Chambers insists that, even if joinder were not improper under Rule 8(a), he was severely prejudiced by the district judge's denial of his motion to sever under Fed.R.Crim.P. 14. That Rule provides, in relevant part:

If it appears that a defendant or the government is prejudiced by a joinder of offenses ... the court may order an election or separate trials of counts, ... or provide whatever other relief justice requires.

We review the district court's denial of this motion for abuse of discretion. See United States v. Olivo-Infante, 938 F.2d 1406, 1409 (1st Cir.1991). Chambers has failed to make a strong showing of prejudice. See United States v. Font-Ramirez, 944 F.2d 42, 45 (1st Cir.1991); United States v. Scivola, 766 F.2d 37, 41 (1st Cir.1985); United States v. Clayton, 450 F.2d 16, 18 (1st Cir.1971). He asserts that he was prejudiced by the fact that none of the bank tellers made an in-court identification of him, and that the jurors were therefore...

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17 cases
  • State v. Southern
    • United States
    • Montana Supreme Court
    • 11 Mayo 1999
    ...they are "identical or strikingly similar in the method of operation and occur over a short period of time"); and United States v. Chambers (1st Cir.1992), 964 F.2d 1250, 1251 (stating that the charged offenses were sufficiently similar for joinder under Rule 8(a), Fed.R.Crim.P., in part, b......
  • United States v. Correia
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • 28 Noviembre 2022
    ...each count was separate and that government had to prove each element of each count beyond a reasonable doubt); United States v. Chambers, 964 F.2d 1250, 1251 (1st Cir. 1992) (similar).Equally as important, the verdict slip required that the jury make an individual determination of the defe......
  • U.S. v. Edgar
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • 5 Marzo 1996
    ...of economy of resources. 620 F.2d at 928. Denial of a motion for relief from misjoinder is reviewed de novo. United States v. Chambers, 964 F.2d 1250 (1st Cir.1992). Further, a misjoinder is not reversible if it was harmless. United States v. Lane, 474 U.S. 438, 444-50, 106 S.Ct. 725, 729-3......
  • U.S. v. Cartagena-Merced
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Puerto Rico
    • 19 Noviembre 1997
    ...in which the charged conduct occurred." See, e.g., United States v. Taylor, 54 F.3d 967, 973 (1st Cir.1995); United States v. Chambers, 964 F.2d 1250, 1251 (1st Cir.1992); United States v. Gray, 958 F.2d 9, 14 (1st Cir.1992). An overlap in evidence for each of the offenses is also elemental......
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