As of December 1, 2014, North Carolina criminal defendants may waive their right to a jury trial in superior court and instead opt for a bench trial. This is because of the state constitutional amendment that voters approved this fall. (I wrote about the amendment here.) But how exactly is waiver supposed to work? Background. The bill proposing the amendment is S.L. 2013-300. The bill contains a conditional amendment to G.S. 15A-1201 that became effective only because the amendment passed. New G.S. 15A-1201(b) reads as follows: A defendant accused of any criminal offense for which the State is not seeking a sentence of death in superior court may, knowingly and voluntarily, in writing or on the record in the court and with the consent of the trial judge, waive the right to trial by jury. When a defendant waives the right to trial by jury under this section, the jury is dispensed with as provided by law, and the whole matter of law and fact shall be heard and judgment given by the court. Effective date. The bill provides that the waiver provision takes effect December 1 and “applies to criminal cases arraigned in superior court on or after that date.” Unlike some statutory amendments, the date of the offense doesn’t matter – as long as the arraignment takes place on or after December 1, the option to waive is available to the defendant. When must the defendant decide? I’ve been asked several times when the defendant must decide whether to [...]
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