Court Opinion

ID: 9750861
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:41:22.614938+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:25.691788
License: Public Domain

Murphy, G J,

dissenting:

I agree with the Court’s disposition of these cases except for Countess, as to which I respectfully dissent.
Rule 735 a requires that a defendant make an election to be tried by a jury or by the court. The form and content of the election are spelled out with precision in Rule 735 b. In addition, the election is required to be “in writing, signed by the defendant, witnessed by his counsel, if any, and filed with the clerk of the court in which the case is pending.” The written form of election contained in Rule 735 b provides the *471defendant with advice concerning Ms constitutional right to a jury trial. It specifies:

“Election of Court Trial or Jury Trial

I know that I have a right to be tried by a jury of 12 persons or by the court without a jury. I am aware that before a finding of guilty in a jury trial all 12 jurors must find that I am guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I am aware that before a finding of guilty in a court trial the judge must find that I am guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
I hereby elect to be tried by: ................
(insert ‘the court’ or ‘a jury’)
I make this election knowingly and voluntarily and with full knowledge that I may not be permitted to change this election.
Witness:
Signature of Counsel Signature of Defendant
Date:. ...............”
Countess executed this form, electing a jury trial. He signed the form, and it was witnessed by his counsel. It was made a part of the record in the case.
On the day scheduled for his trial, Countess desired to change his election from a jury to a court trial, as is permissible under Rule 735 e 2. Rule 735 d requires that where a defendant elects to be tried by the court, trial may not proceed “until the court determines, after inquiry of the defendant on the record, that the defendant has made his election for a court trial with full knowledge of his right to a jury trial and that he has knowingly and voluntarily waived the right.”
With Countess’ previously executed written election for a jury trial in the record before him, the trial court initiated the requisite Rule 735 d inquiry of the defendant. In doing so, the trial judge knew from Countess’ prior written election of a jury trial that he had earlier been advised that he had a right to be tried by a jury of 12 persons which could not convict him *472unless all 12 jurors found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The trial judge also knew that Countess had personally signed the election form with the knowledge of his attorney, acknowledging that his election was a knowing and voluntary one which he might not be permitted to change.
In dialogue with the trial judge, Countess personally stated that he wanted to be tried by the court. Asked by the judge if he understood that he had a right to a jury trial, Countess personally acknowledged that he understood that he had such a right. Countess, in response to another question from the trial judge, said that his lawyer had fully explained the right to a jury trial to him, but he elected to be tried by the court.
The majority has concluded that the inquiry made of Countess by the trial judge was insufficient to comply with the requirement of Rule 735 d that the court determine, “after inquiry of the defendant on the record, that the defendant has made his election for a court trial with full knowledge of his right to a jury trial and that he has knowingly and voluntarily waived the right.” The majority holds that the inquiry would have been sufficient under the rule, and in full compliance with state or federal constitutional requirements necessary to effectuate a waiver of the right to a jury trial, if the substance of the advice contained in the written election form under Rule 735 b had been imparted to Countess in open court and he had at that time knowingly and voluntarily waived his right to a jury trial.
Nothing in Rule 735 d requires the trial judge to adhere to any set ritual in ascertaining whether the defendant has made his election for a court trial with full knowledge of his right to a jury trial and has knowingly and voluntarily waived the right. Where, as here, there has been a previously written election form personally executed by the defendant under Rule 735 b, and made part of the record in the case, the trial judge, in making the Rule 735 d inquiry, is entitled to take into account the fact that the defendant has acknowledged in writing that he knew of his right to be tried by a jury of 12 persons, and was also aware that he could not be convicted unless all 12 jurors found him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
*473Considering the substance of the information contained in Countess’ written election, together with his personal response to the trial judge’s in-court inquiry, namely, that he understood that he had a right to a jury trial, bu t elected a court trial instead, I conclude that there was sufficient compliance with the mandate of Rule 735 d in this case. Of course, had no prior written election been made by Countess, the Rule 735 d inquiry conducted by the trial judge would not have constituted compliance with the rule. But the written election is of record in this case and, coupled with the subsequent in-court inquiry made, spells the difference between compliance and noncompliance with the rule.
The majority totally ignores the execution by Countess of the written election form, treating it as a useless appendage, of no utility whatsoever in determining compliance with Rule 735 d, even though admittedly the executed form is part of the record in the case. It is somewhat incongruous, therefore, that the majority would consider the very same information imparted to the defendant on the election form respecting the right to a jury trial as the precise measure of the inquiry required to be made by the trial court under Rule 735 d.
The result reached by the majority is both strained and unnecessary, since nothing in Rule 735 d calls for any fixed or set ritual in ascertaining whether the defendant knew of his right to a jury trial and knowingly and voluntarily waived the right. The constitutional right to a jury trial and its waiver is no more difficult to comprehend than the constitutional rights implicated in and waived by the entry of a guilty plea, as outlined by the Supreme Court in Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S. Ct 1709, 23 L. Ed. 2d 274 (1969). Yet, in Davis v. State, 278 Md. 103, 361 A.2d 113 (1976), we eschewed the need for a specific ritual in ascertaining whether a guilty plea was voluntarily and intelligently entered, holding instead that that determination was to be made upon a consideration of the totality of the circumstances as reflected in the entire record. The same reasoning should be followed in determining compliance with Rule 785 d Thus, a written election made under Rule 735 b for a jury trial, as here, should be considered, along with the in-court inquiry made of the *474defendant; in determining compliance with Rule 735 d. To follow that path is to conclude that Countess had full knowledge of his right to a jury trial and knowingly and voluntarily waived it