Rule 8(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure provides for permissible joinder of offenses in certain specified cases. Rule 8(a) reads as follows: 'Joinder of Offenses. Two or more offenses may be charged in the same indictment or information in a separate count for each offense if the offenses charged, whether felonies or misdemeanors or both, are of the same or similar character or are based on the same act or transaction or on two or more acts or transactions connected together or constituting parts of a common scheme or plan.' Rule 14 provides: 'If it appears that a defendant or the government is prejudiced by a joinder of offenses or of defendants in an indictment or information or by such joinder for trial together, the court may order an election or separate trials of counts, grant a severance of defendants or provide whatever other relief justice requires.' Rules 8(a) and 14 are similar to former § 557 of Title 18 U.S.Code (Rev.Stat. § 1024 (1875)), which governed joinder before promulgation of the Rules. For that reason, we consider cases decided under § 557 relevant to our determination. See Dunaway v. United States, 92 U.S.App.D.C. 299, ...