## Facts

- Multiple defendants, including Max Schaffer, Norman Schaffer, Hyman Karp, and Benjamin T. Marco, were indicted under 18 U.S.C. § 2314 for transporting stolen wearing apparel in interstate commerce and for conspiracy.
- The indictment alleged three substantive transportation counts involving separate interstate shipments (to Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Massachusetts) and a fourth count alleging a conspiracy tying all defendants to the shipments.
- Each substantive count alleged transportation of goods known to be stolen and valued in excess of $5,000; the Government relied on multiple related shipments to reach the statutory threshold for each petitioner.
- All defendants were tried together in a single joint trial.
- At the close of the Government’s case, the district court dismissed the conspiracy count for failure of proof, denied acquittal on the substantive counts, and denied severance, finding no prejudice from continuing the joint trial.
- The jury convicted the petitioners on the substantive counts, and they received fines and prison sentences.
- The court of appeals affirmed, finding no prejudice from the joint trial.

## Issues

1. Whether the defendants were properly joined under Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 8(b) based on the indictment’s allegations.
2. Whether dismissal of the conspiracy count required severance, or whether continued joint trial was permissible absent a showing of actual prejudice under Rule 14.
3. Whether 18 U.S.C. § 2311 permits aggregating the value of related shipments charged in a single indictment to satisfy the $5,000 threshold in 18 U.S.C. § 2314 when no single shipment exceeds $5,000.
4. Whether the prosecutor’s closing argument contained prejudicial remarks requiring reversal.

## Decision

- The Supreme Court affirmed the convictions in a 5–4 decision.
- The Court held that joinder was proper under Rule 8(b) because the indictment alleged participation in the same series of acts or transactions, including an asserted conspiracy and a common scheme.
- The Court held that dismissal of the conspiracy count did not require automatic severance; Rule 14 governs severance after proper joinder, and petitioners failed to show actual prejudice.
- The Court upheld aggregation of the value of related shipments to meet § 2314’s $5,000 minimum, relying on § 2311’s definition of “value” as the aggregate value of goods referred to in a single indictment.
- The Court found the prosecutor’s summation not prejudicial.

## Legal Principles

- Joinder of defendants is proper under Rule 8(b) when the indictment alleges participation in the same act or transaction, or the same series of acts or transactions, constituting offenses.
- When joinder is proper at the indictment stage, severance is governed by Rule 14 and is warranted only upon a showing that joinder actually prejudices a defendant; there is no per se rule requiring severance if a conspiracy count fails.
- Trial courts have a continuing duty to order severance if prejudice appears during trial, especially when the charge that originally supported joinder is dismissed for lack of evidence.
- Under 18 U.S.C. § 2311, the value element in 18 U.S.C. § 2314 may be satisfied by aggregating the value of related goods described in a single indictment.

## Conclusion

The Court upheld joint trial after dismissal of a conspiracy count because joinder was proper when charged and severance required proof of actual prejudice, and it confirmed that § 2311 permits aggregating the value of related interstate stolen-goods shipments charged in a single indictment to meet § 2314’s $5,000 threshold.


Schaffer v. United States, 362 U.S. 511 (1960)