Punch and Jurists

Zafiro v. U.S., No. 91-6824 (U.S. Supreme Court) (506 U.S. 534; 113 S.Ct. 933) (January 25, 1993) (Justice O'Connor) by This is one of the seminal cases on severance based on a claim of mutually antagonistic defenses. The petitioners in this case were four individuals charged with distributing illegal drugs. …

U.S. v. Mayfield, No. 98-50100 (9th Cir.) (189 F.3d 895) (August 26, 1999) (Judge Dorothy Wright Nelson) by Here the Court held that the trial court abused its discretion by failing to sever the trial of two defendants, where the codefendant presented a mutually exclusive defense and improper evidence that …

U.S. v. Volpe, No. CR 98-196(S-2) (E.D.N.Y.) (42 F.Supp.2d 204) (March 3, 1999) (Judge Eugene H. Nickerson) by This high profile case, which charged five police officers with violating the civil rights of Abner Louima, is noted for its discussion of a number of issues including severance requests based on …

U.S. v. Salameh, No. 94-1312 (2nd Cir.) (152 F.3d 88) (August 4, 1998) (Per Curiam) by This case involved a multi-defendant conspiracy to blow up the World Trade Center complex in New York City. At trial, one defendant, Abouhalima, refused to concede that a bomb had blown up the World …

Hood v. Helling, No. 96-4180 (8th Cir.) (141 F.3d 892) (April 14, 1998) (Judge Diana E. Murphy) by The majority defined "mutually antagonistic defenses" as those which "force the jury to disbelieve the core of on defense in order to believe the core of the other." (Id., at 896). In …