Jackson , Mississippi Bribery Case Update

I saw a law professor quoted in the WLBT story saying that the other defendants in the Jackson bribery case would want to stay as far away from DA Jody Owens’ case as possible and that severance might make sense.

I’m not so sure about that.

In federal court, when the government charges a conspiracy, the rule is usually the opposite. Defendants who are indicted together are almost always tried together. The government is allowed to introduce acts of co-conspirators that were done during and in furtherance of the conspiracy, and those acts aren’t treated like unrelated “other bad acts” evidence. They’re considered part of the story of how the alleged scheme worked.

That means evidence involving Owens could still come in even if it makes the other defendants uncomfortable, because prosecutors will argue those acts show how the alleged bribery conspiracy operated.

Severance in federal conspiracy cases is actually pretty rare. The standard is whether a jury can reasonably separate the evidence for each defendant, and judges almost always say they can.

So while the defense will certainly ask for separate trials, my guess is the judge keeps them together. Federal conspiracy cases are usually tried as one big case, not broken up into pieces.