Opinion ID: 2394111
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Tavony Wayne Zylanz

Text: On 21 June 2004, in a bench trial in the Circuit Court for Baltimore County, at which he was represented by counsel, Tavony Wayne Zylanz was convicted of fourth-degree burglary, felony theft, and resisting arrest, along with other related lesser offenses. The trial court sentenced Zylanz to ten years of incarceration, suspending five years in favor of probation, for the felony theft conviction and twenty-three months of incarceration, to be served consecutively, for the fourth-degree burglary conviction. [2] The Court of Special Appeals, in a reported opinion, Zylanz v. State, 164 Md. App. 340, 883 A.2d 257 (2005), affirmed. On appeal, Zylanz argued that because the trial judge failed to make an explicit finding on the record regarding his waiver of a jury trial being knowing and voluntary, the waiver was not valid. [3] Zylanz, 164 Md. App. at 342-43, 883 A.2d at 258. The intermediate appellate court concluded that Zylanz knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial in accordance with Maryland Rule 4-246. Zylanz, 164 Md.App. at 343, 883 A.2d at 258. The court determined that the rule does not require the court to make a specific finding by the use of certain words or phrases. Zylanz, 164 Md.App. at 352, 883 A.2d at 263. Although the Court of Special Appeals remarked that the record may have been more decisive had the trial court made an explicit statement regarding its finding of the knowing and voluntary nature of the defendant's waiver, the court stated that while the court's acceptance of the waiver was implicit, it [wa]s nonetheless apparent. Zylanz, 164 Md.App. at 352, 883 A.2d at 263. We granted Zylanz's Petition for Writ of Certiorari to determine whether the Court of Special Appeals correctly concluded that Powell validly waived his right to a jury trial where the court did not make an explicit finding, on the record, regarding whether the waiver was knowing and voluntary. Zylanz v. State, 391 Md. 577, 894 A.2d 545 (2006). [4]