United States v. Mason

MEMORANDUM **

Defendan1>-Appellant Quevency Devron Mason appeals his conviction on six counts of distribution of cocaine base and the resulting sentence of 20 years of imprisonment. We affirm. As the parties are familiar with the facts, we do not recite them here.

ANALYSIS

1. The district court properly denied Mason’s motion to sever Count Six of the superseding indictment.

Mason argues that the district court erred in denying his motion, pursuant to Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure 8(a) *428 and 14, to sever Count Six of the superseding indictment for misjoinder.

Rule 8(a) permits joinder of charges against a single defendant when, among other things, those charges “are of the same or similar character.” Fed. R.Crim. P. 8(a). “Because Rule 8 is concerned with the propriety of joining offenses in the indictment, the validity of the joinder is determined solely by the allegations in the indictment.” United States v. Terry, 911 F.2d 272 (9th Cir.1990). The charges against Mason are of the same or similar character because they involve the distribution or intent to distribute the same drug in the same place within the same general time frame. There was no misjoinder under…