Gloria Zafiro, Jose Martinez, Salvador Garcia and Alfonso Soto v. United States (506 U.S. 534)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided January 25, 1993 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 506 U.S. 534 · 113 S. Ct. 933
- Decided
- January 25, 1993
- Term
- October Term 1992
- Vote
- 9–0
- Majority author
- Justice O'Connor
- Issue area
- Criminal Procedure
- Disposition
- Affirmed
- Outcome
- Petitioning party lost
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
Opinion excerpt
Justice O’Connor delivered the opinion of the Court. Rule 8(b) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides that defendants may be charged together “if they are alleged to have participated in the same act or transaction or in the same series of acts or transactions constituting an offense or offenses.” Rule 14 of the Rules, in turn, permits a district court to grant a severance of defendants if “it appears that a defendant or the government is prejudiced by a joinder.” In this case, we consider whether Rule 14 requires severance as a matter of law when codefendants present “mutually antagonistic defenses.” I Gloria Zafiro, Jose Martinez, Salvador Garcia, and Alfonso Soto were accused of distributing illegal drugs in the Chicago area, operating primarily out of Soto’s bungalow in Chicago and Zafiro’s apartment in Cicero, a nearby suburb. One day, Government agents observed Garcia and Soto place a large box in Soto’s car and drive from Soto’s bungalow to Zafiro’s apartment. The agents followed the two as they carried the box up the stairs. When the agents identified themselves, Garcia and Soto dropped the box and ran into the apartment. The agents entered the apartment in pursuit and found the four petitioners in the living room. The dropped box contained 55 pounds of cocaine. After obtaining a search warrant for the apartment, agents found approximately 16 pounds of…
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