Joinder of Offenses

• Jurisdiction: Maryland

III. Joinder of Offenses

Two or more offenses, whether felonies or misdemeanors, may be charged in the same charging document in a separate count for each offense if the offenses charged are of the same or similar character or are based on the same transaction or act, or part of a common scheme. Md. Rule 4-203. Standards for joinder in bench trials that would take place in District Court are more flexible than those that apply in a jury trial setting in the circuit courts. Conyers v. State, 345 Md. 525, 552-53, 693 A.2d 781, 794 (1997). A judge has the discretion to permit joinder of offenses or defendants even if there is no mutual admissibility of offenses because it may be presumed that a judge will not transfer evidence of guilt as to one offense to another offense. Id. (citing Graves v. State, 298 Md. 542, 546-47, 471 A.2d 701, 703 (1984)).

A. Duplicity Problems

Duplicity is defined as the charging of two or more substantive offenses in a single count. A single substantive offense charged in the conjunctive ("and") is not duplicitous, while if charged in the disjunctive ("or") is duplicitous. See Shiflett v. State, 229 Md. App. 645, 684-85, 146 A.3d 504, 527-28 (2016) (holding that the charging document referencing a...