Opinion ID: 4540545
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: C.R. 23 (emphasis added).

Text: These procedural components are intertwined with the substantive requirements that the waiver be knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. Vasquez, 163 Idaho at 562, 416 P.3d at 113 (“[I]t is axiomatic that the failure to obtain a defendant’s personal, knowing and voluntary waiver of her right to jury trial is a clear violation of a constitutional right.”). “A defendant’s right to be tried by a jury of her peers is a fundamental tenet of constitutional law, both in our nation and in this state.” Id. “Failing to make [findings that the waiver was “knowing, intelligent, and voluntary”] as to the defendant personally establishes a structural defect in the proceedings.” Id. at 563, 416 P.3d at 114. This Court explained how a defendant must personally waive the jury-trial right in Vasquez, 163 Idaho at 557, 416 P.3d at 108. There, the defendant pled not guilty to a felony intimidating-a-witness charge and was set to have a jury trial. Id. at 559, 416 P.3d at 110. However, the day before trial, defense counsel and the prosecutor informed the district 1 Idaho Code section 19-1902 provides: Issues of fact must be tried by jury, unless a trial by jury be waived in criminal cases by the consent of both parties expressed in open court and entered in the minutes. . . . . 2 Under Chapter 39 “Proceedings in the Magistrate’s Division of the District Court,” the Code provides: A trial by jury may be waived by the consent of both parties expressed in open court and entered in the docket. . . .