Why Would Someone Waive The Right To A Jury Trial?

Disputes over the validity of evidence, and sometimes even appeals of verdicts that have already been returned, occur when the state does not notify defendants in criminal cases of their rights or when defendants waive those rights as a result of deception or duress.  For example, courts have overturned convictions on appeal in cases where police did not read the defendants the Miranda warnings at the time of the arrest, leading the defendants to confess or make self-incriminating statements when they would not have done so if they had known that they had the right to meet with a criminal defense lawyer, free of charge, before answering questions from police.  The right to a jury trial is as fundamental a right as the right to remain silent, and yet relatively few criminal cases culminate in a trial by jury, and plea deals are only part of the reason why.  For help making an informed decision about arguing your case before a jury, contact a West Palm Beach criminal defense lawyer.

Who Has Ever Heard of a Trial Without a Jury?

Not every trial is a jury trial.  In most civil cases, bench trials are the exception rather than the rule.  A bench trial is where the parties present their evidence before the judge, and the judge singlehandedly decides the outcome of the case.  Pursuant to the Sixth Amendment, all defendants in criminal cases have the right to a fair trial, including an impartial jury.  Despite this, some criminal cases in which defendants plead not guilty proceed to a bench trial instead of a jury trial.  Why does this happen?

According to Florida law, the right to a jury trial only applies if imprisonment is a possible punishment for the charges at hand.  Therefore, if you plead not guilty to a low-level misdemeanor, you might have a bench trial.  The other scenario in which bench trials are a possibility is when the defendants waive the right to a jury trial and chooses a bench trial instead.  Why would someone do this when a jury trial requires 12 people to convict you before you are officially guilty, but a bench trial requires only one?  Usually, it is because prosecutors can fool 12 jurors more easily than they can fool one judge.  Prosecutors can get juries to convict defendants by playing on their emotions, and they take advantage of this.  Scary looking weapons, emotional testimony from witnesses, and gruesome images of alleged victims’ injuries are sometimes enough to make jurors forget their reasonable doubt.  By contrast, judges have been present at numerous criminal trials, and they don’t fall for cheap appeals to emotion.  Furthermore, they are not fooled when prosecutors describe legal concepts in misleading ways.

Contact a West Palm Beach Criminal Defense Lawyer Today

Attorney William Wallshein has more than 38 years of experience, including five years as a prosecutor in Palm Beach County.  Contact William Wallshein P.A. in West Palm Beach, Florida to discuss your case.

Source:

law.cornell.edu/constitution/sixth_amendment