People v. Wang

The defendant and two codefendants, William Lai and Fabrizio Barbaran, were charged with crimes arising from the March 20, 1982 attempted robbery of a Shell station in Hauppauge, New York, and the murder of Richard Berger. Prior to trial, the defendant moved for a severance based on the Bruton rule (see, Bruton v United States, 391 US 123), and on the ground that if he was tried separately, his codefendants would provide testimony which would tend to exculpate him. In support of the defendant’s application for a severance, the *568codefendants’ attorneys confirmed the defendant’s assertions that…