United States v. Smallwood

MEMORANDUM OPINION

ELLIS, District Judge.

At issue on a pretrial motion for severance in this prosecution of two defendants for murder and use of a firearm while engaged in a drug conspiracy, in violation of 21 U.S.C. § 848(e)(1)(A) and 18 U.S.C. § 924(c) & (j), is whether a non-testifying defendant’s statements that directly inculpate a co-defendant, but are redacted to substitute a neutral phrase or pronoun such as “another person” or “another individual” for the co-defendant’s name, may be admitted at trial under Bruton v. United States, 391 U.S. 123, 88 S.Ct. 1620, 20 L.Ed.2d 476 (1968),…