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N.D.R.Crim.P. 13

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Rule 13 Joint Trial of Separate Cases

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Rule Text

The court may order that separate cases be tried together as though brought in a single indictment, information or complaint if all offenses and all defendants could have been joined in a single indictment, information, or complaint.

Amendment history: (Adopted May 11, 1972; amended Mar. 1, 2006.)

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

If someone is charged with crimes in separate cases, a judge can decide to combine those cases into one trial. This can only happen if the charges and the people involved could have legally been filed together in the first place as one case.

This rule is about saving time and avoiding repeat trials when cases are closely connected. For example, if two people are charged separately for the same crime, or if one person faces multiple charges that could have been filed together, the court can join them so everything gets handled in a single trial instead of several.

For anyone involved in a case, this means you could end up in a trial that includes other defendants or other charges, even though your case started out separate. The key point is that the law only allows this joining when the cases meet the same requirements needed to file them together from the start.

Committee Notes

Rule 13 was amended, effective March 1, 2006.

Rule 13 follows Fed.R.Crim.P. 13 in substance and controls with respect to the trial of multiple indictments or informations within the state. Rule 13 is a restatement of existing law that permits the joinder of charges in an indictment and the consolidation of indictments for trial.

Rule 13 was amended, effective March 1, 2006, in response to the December 1, 2002, revision of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The language and organization of the rule were changed to make the rule more easily understood and to make style and terminology consistent throughout the rules.

Rule 13 must be considered in light of Rule 8 (Joinder of Offenses and of Defendants). The joinder of offenses against a single defendant is governed by Rule 8(a), and the discussion of that rule is pertinent in determining when indictments may be tried together. In conjunction with Rule 8(a), which permits joinder of offenses, this rule permits trial together of offenses, whether felonies, misdemeanors or both, that (1) are of the same or similar character or (2) are based on the same act or transaction or (3) are based on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting part of a common scheme or plan. But even if offenses charged against a single defendant arise out of interrelated occurrences, they should be tried together only if expediency can be served without interference with the defendant's substantive rights.

The joinder of defendants under Rule 13 is governed by Rule 8(b), and the discussion of that rule is pertinent in considering a joint trial of two or more defendants. The test that must be met before independent charges against two or more defendants may be ordered tried together is that they have participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses. The rule does not permit joinder of defendants alleged to have committed offenses of a similar character, although where a single defendant is involved, such joinder would be permissible.

Rule 13 is similar to N.D.R.Civ.P. 42 (Consolidation; Separate Trials), in that both allow the court to order a joint hearing or trial (at its discretion) for reasons of expediency if the joint trial will not be prejudicial to the defendant's substantive rights.

SOURCES: Joint Procedure Committee Minutes of January 27-28, 2005, page 11; May 11-12, 1972, pages 15-16; May 3-4, 1968, pages 4-6; Fed.R.Crim.P. 13.

STATUTES AFFECTED:

SUPERSEDED: N.D.C.C. § 29-11-10.1.

CROSS REFERENCES: N.D.R.Crim.P. 8 (Joinder of Offenses or Defendants); N.D.R.Crim.P. 14 (Relief from Prejudicial Joinder).

← Previous Rule 12.3: Fitness to Proceed; Restoration Next → Rule 14: Relief from Prejudicial Joinder