Also known as: closely related counts · related counts · joinder of counts · same transaction
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A collection of criminal counts arising from the same transaction or occurrence that are treated as a single unit for calculating the applicable offense level at sentencing.
Glenn Gross is charged with misdemeanor battery and felony robbery after punching a victim and taking property during one continuous struggle in a locker room. The counts group because they arise from the same occurrence. The sentencing court uses only the highest adjusted offense level for the group.
Gregory Gates faces felony theft and misdemeanor criminal damage counts after grabbing a wallet and breaking a trophy during the identical confrontation. The writings describing the events are read together as one transaction. The court assigns a single unit to the group for sentencing.
Gloria Green is convicted on multiple counts tied to acquiring title to real estate and constructing improvements in the same loan transaction. The purchase money mortgage counts group because the funds were used in one integrated deal. Sentencing proceeds on the highest offense level within the group.
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Giana Greco is charged with federal and state offenses stemming from the same disciplinary hearing at a university. The counts share a common nucleus of operative fact. The court treats them as one group and calculates the offense level from the most serious count.
Gideon Graves faces several fraud counts based on a series of documents that together describe a single oral agreement. The signed and unsigned writings clearly relate to the same transaction. The counts form one group and receive a single unit at sentencing.
Gabriel Gonzalez is convicted on counts arising from a senior mortgage released and replaced in the same transaction. The new mortgage retains priority except where materially prejudicial. The related counts group for sentencing under the highest offense level.
Counts group when they arise from the same transaction or occurrence. The worksheet requires identifying such groups and assigning the highest adjusted offense level from the counts within each group.
Supporting sources
One unit is assigned to each group. Additional units may be added under the multi-count rules depending on the number of groups and their offense levels.
Supporting sources
Merger principles determine whether lesser offenses merge into greater ones arising from the same conduct. Battery merges into robbery when the punch supplies the force for the taking in one continuous struggle, but same-degree offenses like two misdemeanors do not merge.
Each ungrouped count receives its own unit. The total number of units then determines the combined offense level under the multi-count rules.
Supporting sources
…for defendant; such statements could be admissible only as impeachment or if the state had first given evidence of parts of the same transaction so as to open the door to the remainder. Merely proving the fact of a physical examination without detailing conversation does not admit past narrative statements as res gestae, except…