Judge orders separate trials for Jenkins, Krop

Aug. 31—A federal judge on Wednesday issued an order to separate the trials of Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins and local firearms businessman Robert Krop, saying a joint trial would be prejudicial to Krop.

Arguments to separate the trials centered around a recorded interview Jenkins had with federal agents that directly implicated Krop in the alleged crime, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher's order said.

Federal prosecutors said in previous court filings they wanted to play the recording during the joint trial.

But Gallagher wrote that playing the recording during a joint trial would "infringe Mr. Krop's constitutional right to confront Mr. Jenkins," the court order said.

Jenkins and Krop were federally indicted in April on five counts of conspiracy and making false statements to illegally acquire machine guns.

Krop, who co-owns the shooting range The Machine Gun Nest, was additionally charged with one count of illegal possession of machine guns.

Both men pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Conspiracy cases are typically tried jointly, since defendants are accused of participating in the same act, the order said. In fact, a combined trial is "highly favored" in conspiracy cases, it said.

Gallagher wrote that the two men were properly joined in the single indictment.

But Jenkins' interview sparked concern for Gallagher, and she wrote that severance, or separation of the cases — only granted when there is "serious risk that joint trial would compromise a specific trial right of one of the defendants" — might be necessary under the Bruton rule.

The Bruton rule, set forth by a 1968 U.S. Supreme Court case Bruton v. United States, says that a defendant's rights are violated in a joint trial if their co-defendant implicates them in a statement.

Over the past several weeks, prosecutors and attorneys for both men made arguments for or against separating the trial under the Bruton rule.

Prosecutors recommended in their arguments that they could solve the problem by either redacting Krop's name from the interview or referring to Krop as "another person."

Jenkins and Krop argued that a joint trial would be unfair, no matter what actions were taken to mitigate prejudice.

Jenkins' attorneys said his interview would need to be played in full, without redactions, to be fair to him. But in turn, it would be unfair to Krop under the Bruton rule, they said.

Krop agreed, and argued that he would have to defend himself from attacks from Jenkins legal team and federal prosecutors.

Gallagher wrote in her order that the prosecutors' recommendations wouldn't satisfy preserving Krop's rights. Additionally, it wouldn't be feasible, she said.

"Referring to Mr. Krop as 'another person' would do nothing to shield his identity as the person inculpated by Mr. Jenkins's interview," she wrote in her order.

U.S. Attorney's Office spokesperson Marcia Lubin said Wednesday morning that prosecutors had no comment on the decision.

Krop's attorney, Dan Cox, could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday morning.

Andrea Smith, one of Jenkins' attorneys, said Thursday morning she had no comment other than they were pleased with the order.

In her order, Gallagher wrote that it is clear who the two parties in the case are based on letters at the center of the case.

The federal indictment alleges that between 2015 and 2022, Jenkins signed letters Krop drafted on Frederick County Sheriff's Office letterhead that stated the sheriff's office had an interest in seeing demonstrations of machine guns, or in the purchase of machine guns.

Those letters were sent to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which approved the transfer of some of those machine guns to The Machine Gun Nest.

When Krop received the machine guns, no demonstrations took place, prosecutors allege.

He rented them out at the shooting range, the indictment said.

Gallager concluded her order by saying she will be scheduling hearings as necessary for other pending motions, and then plans to set trial dates for each defendant.

Follow Clara Niel on Twitter: @clarasniel