Opinion ID: 1716246
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Denial of Constitutional Right to a Jury Trial.

Text: The defendant contends that he was denied his constitutional right to trial by jury because, when the trial judge asked him to choose between a judge trial or a jury trial, it was his attorney who responded that defendant would choose to waive the jury trial and be tried before the court. (Assignment 1). The defendant forcefully contends that the right to trial by jury can only be waived by the defendant personally, and not by his attorney, even where, as here, the question was asked directly to the defendant and was answered by his attorney who was sitting beside him. He relies principally on State v. Muller, 351 So.2d 143 (La.1977). Muller, however, upheld a trial judge's finding that under the facts of that case, a defendant whose attorney waived his right to jury trial while defendant was not present in court, had not actually given his informed consent to the waiver. Nevertheless, in Muller, we specifically refused to adopt an absolute rule that no jury waiver can be effective unless the record reflects that the accused was personally informed by the judge of his right to jury trial. [6] We find no error in the determination of the trial judge here that the present defendant gave his informed consent to the waiver made in his presence by his attorney, especially in light of the facts that the judge had informed defendant not once, but twice, of his right to choose between a judge trial and a jury trial, and that the defendant was shown to have had prior experience as an accused in the trial of a criminal prosecution.