California, United States of America
The following excerpt is from People v. Daveggio, 231 Cal.Rptr.3d 646, 4 Cal.5th 790, 415 P.3d 717 (Cal. 2018):
Finally, we conclude that the joint trial did not deprive defendants of due process of law under the federal Constitution. " We have held that even if a trial court's ruling on a motion to sever is correct at the time it was made, a reviewing court still must determine whether, in the end, the joinder of counts or defendants for trial resulted in gross unfairness depriving the defendant of due process of law. [Citations.] " ( People v. Soper (2009) 45 Cal.4th 759, 783, 89 Cal.Rptr.3d 188, 200 P.3d 816.) Defendants bear the burden of establishing that the trial was grossly unfair and denied them due process of law, and "a judgment will be reversed on this ground only if it is reasonably probable that the jury was influenced [by the joinder] in its verdict of guilt. " ( People v. Merriman (2014) 60 Cal.4th 1, 49, 177 Cal.Rptr.3d 1, 332 P.3d 1187.) No gross unfairness has been established here. And given the strength of the independent evidence against each of the defendants, we perceive no reasonable likelihood that the jury was influenced by the joinder in its verdict of guilt.
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