Case Name: STATE of Louisiana and City of Shreveport, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Ronald BOULT, Defendant-Appellant
Court: Louisiana Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Louisiana
Decision Date: 1983-05-03
Citations: 440 So. 2d 766
Docket Number: No. 15373-KW
Parties: STATE of Louisiana and City of Shreveport, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Ronald BOULT, Defendant-Appellant.
Judges: Before HALL, FRED W. JONES, Jr. and SEXTON, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 440
Pages: 766–769

Head Matter:
STATE of Louisiana and City of Shreveport, Plaintiffs-Appellees, v. Ronald BOULT, Defendant-Appellant.
No. 15373-KW.
Court of Appeal of Louisiana, Second Circuit.
May 3, 1983.
On Rehearing Nov. 29, 1983.
George Ross, Shreveport, for defendanf-appellant.
William J. Guste, Jr., Atty. Gen., Baton Rouge, Paul J. Carmouche, Dist. Atty., Barbara B. Rutledge, Asst. Atty. Gen., James Stewart, Catherine B. Estopinal, Asst. Dist. Attys., Shreveport, for plaintiffs-appellees.
Before HALL, FRED W. JONES, Jr. and SEXTON, JJ.

Opinion:
FRED W. JONES, Jr., Judge.
Ronald Boult was charged in the Shreveport City Court, in separate affidavits, with commission of the following misdemeanors: illegal carrying of a weapon (R.S. 14:95); entering and remaining in a public place after being forbidden (R.S. 14:68.3); interference with medical treatment (R.S. 14:332); and resisting an officer (Shreveport City Ordinance 21-4). Upon motion by the prosecution, the four charges were consolidated for trial purposes and tried before a judge alone.
The defendant was found guilty on each charge. His sentence for conviction of illegal carrying of a weapon was a fine of $500 or 50 days in jail. On each of the other three convictions defendant was sentenced to pay a fine of $50 or serve five days in jail.
Defendant appealed his convictions and sentences, urging insufficiency of evidence to support the convictions. Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979).
We pretermit discussion of this assigned error because of an error patent on the face of the record. La.C.Cr.P. Art. 920(2).
A defendant is entitled to a jury trial in a criminal case in which the punishment may be confinement at hard labor or confinement without hard labor for more than six months. 1974 La. Constitution, Art. 1, Section 17.
When two or more charges are joined for trial, the aggregate punishment which may be imposed determines whether the right to trial by jury exists. If the total potential punishment exceeds six months imprisonment, the accused is entitled to a jury trial. State v. Williams, 404 So.2d 954 (La.1981); State v. McCarroll, 337 So.2d 475 (La.1976).
When these charges were consolidated for trial, the total maximum potential imprisonment for the defendant was in excess of one year. Consequently, the defendant had a constitutional right to be tried by jury.
The right to a jury trial may be waived in a noncapital case, but that waiver must be "knowingly and intelligently" made. 1974 La. Constitution, Art. 1, Section 17. We are mandated to "indulge every reasonable presumption against waiver of this fundamental right." State v. Williams, supra; State v. McCarroll, supra.
There is nothing in this record showing that the defendant, upon consolidation for trial purposes of the charges against him, waived his right to a jury trial. As pointed out in State v. Muller, 351 So.2d 143 (La.1977):
"[tjhere can be no doubt that when an accused purports to waive a fundamental constitutional right, no waiver can be effective unless it is done knowingly and intelligently by an accused who understands the consequences of his action."
The failure of this record to affirmatively show that the defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his constitutional right to a jury trial is error patent on its face.
For this reason, defendant's convictions and sentences are reversed and the case is remanded to the Shreveport City Court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
Before HALL, MARVIN, JASPER E. JONES, FRED W. JONES, Jr. and SEXTON, JJ.