What it is
A criminal motion asking the court to separate charges or defendants for trial because a joint trial would be unfairly prejudicial. The defense argues that evidence, defenses, or jury confusion will make one combined trial unjust.
Pretrial / scheduling
Motion to Sever Counts or Defendants
In criminal cases, asks to split charges or defendants into separate trials to avoid unfair prejudice.
When it's used
Filed in multi-count indictments or multi-defendant prosecutions where evidence against one defendant may spill over, defenses conflict, or some counts are much more inflammatory than others.
What the other side does
The government argues joint trial is efficient, the charges are properly joined, limiting instructions will protect fairness, and overlapping evidence would be repeated in separate trials.
Common outcomes
Severance is difficult but possible. The court may deny, sever defendants, sever counts, order separate juries, or use limiting instructions and trial management instead.
Not legal advice. Motion practice varies by court,
judge, and case type. Local rules and standing orders frequently
modify the federal defaults shown here. If you're facing a motion
or considering filing one, talk to a lawyer about strategy and
timing for your specific case.