Harold Hammond v. State of Florida, 16-0897

Harold Hammond was convicted of second-degree murder (death of neighbor Kenneth Solada), tampering with evidence (clothing and firearm), possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, and battery (against his live-in girlfriend’s son, Timothy Mossman).
Hammond admitted shooting Solada and battering Mossman but claimed self-defense for both incidents.
The incidents occurred during the same night and early morning (Feb 21–22, 2009); timing and sequence were disputed at trial.
Prosecution theory: both assaults were connected to Hammond’s attempts to obtain/use drugs (a dispute over Xanax and money for drugs). Defense: the battery and the murder involved different victims, times, places, and motives, so they were unrelated.
Hammond moved to sever the battery count from the other charges under Fla. R. Crim. P. 3.152(a)(2)(A); the trial court denied the motion and the First DCA reviewed that denial for abuse of discretion.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the battery count should have been severed from the murder and related counts	Hammond: battery was unrelated—different victim, time, place, and motive; joinder unfairly prejudiced him	State: crimes were part of a single criminal episode—temporal and geographic proximity and common motive (drugs) justified joinder	Court affirmed: no abuse of discretion in denying severance; crimes could be seen as temporally/geographically linked and sharing motive

Hart v. State, 70 So. 3d 615 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011) (joinder can deprive defendant of fair trial when evidence of one crime improperly bolsters proof of another)
Fletcher v. State, 168 So. 3d 186 (Fla. 2015) (joinder proper where acts share temporal proximity, physical proximity, and common motive)
Trease v. State, 768 So. 2d 1050 (Fla. 2000) (abuse of discretion standard for severance review)
Huff v. State, 569 So. 2d 1247 (Fla. 1990) (discretion abused only where no reasonable person would adopt trial court's view)