Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

Re: Pre trial motion

This is most likely a case involving two or more defendants who were being prosecuted jointly. Counsel for at least one of them filed a motion to sever (in other words, seeking a separate trial for one of the defendants) and the prosecutor filed an opposition.

It is also possible that there were multiple charges against a defendant in one case and that defense counsel made a motion to have part of the case separated from the rest, and that the prosecutor filed an opposition to this motion. This possibility is much less likely than the one set forth above.

Re: Pre trial motion

The prosecutor (aka "the People")filed an opposition (a written brief describing why a motion should not be granted) to the defendant's motion to sever, presumably, to sever his case from that of a co-defendant, i.e., where one defendant does not want to stand trial with a co-defendant and perhaps be found guilty "by association." Or the motion to sever could be a motion to sever one count from another and have separate trials for one defendant on two or more charges.