Rule 14 Relief from Prejudicial Joinder

When someone is charged with multiple crimes together, or multiple people are charged together in the same case, this can sometimes create an unfair situation for one side. Maybe a jury gets confused by too many charges at once, or a defendant gets unfairly linked to a co-defendant's bad behavior. When this happens, the court has options to fix the problem.

The judge can order separate trials for different charges, so each one gets its own hearing instead of being lumped together. The judge can also split up defendants who were charged together, giving each person their own trial. This might happen if evidence against one person would unfairly influence the jury's opinion of another person on trial with them.

The court has flexibility here. The rule doesn't limit the judge to just these two fixes. If something else would make the trial fairer, the judge can order that instead. The main goal is to make sure everyone gets a fair trial, even when cases start out joined together.