Court Opinion

ID: 9785627
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-30 22:14:35.129141+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:35:59.545386
License: Public Domain

MARTONE, Justice,
concurring in the judgment, dissenting from the opinion.
¶31 I agree that Benitez is not entitled to a jury trial for this misdemeanor, but not for the reasons stated by the majority. In State ex rel. McDougall v. Strohson, 190 Ariz. 120, 127, 945 P.2d, 1251, 1258 (1997) (Martone, J. concurring in the judgment), I stated at length my view that the time had come for us to abandon the subjective Roth-weiler /Dolny three-part test. I there argued that we should adopt the clear and distinct approach established in Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 542, 109 S.Ct. 1289, 1293, 103 L.Ed.2d 550 (1989). The federal Blanton test can be rationally applied. One only looks to penalty and if the term is six months or less, there is no right to jury trial unless there are additional severe statutory penalties.
¶ 32 In contrast, the standard articulated in Rothweiler v. Superior Court, 100 Ariz. 37, 410 P.2d 479 (1966), and expanded by State ex rel. Dean v. Dolny, 161 Ariz. 297, 778 P.2d 1193 (1989) is subjective and impossible to apply on a consistent basis. The “moral quality of the act” component of the Roth-weiler/Dolny test, which requires judges to predict the moral culpability the public attaches to an act, guarantees that its application will have irrational results. Because the “moral quality of the act” is in the eye of the beholder, there will be as many diverse results as there are judges.
¶ 33 This means that the defendant, counsel, and the court will never know for sure at the beginning of trial whether a jury must be convened. And the inconsistency does not stop there. Each member of this court wears a different lens. Compare, for example, Rothweiler, in which this court held that the charge of driving under the influence entitles one to a jury trial, with Stroh-son, in which this court held that a charge of domestic violence assault does not entitle one to a jury trial. Who is to say that domestic violence is less morally culpable than driving under the influence? The people, through their elected representatives, should decide such questions. That is why we leave gradations of criminal conduct, moral judgments, and sanctions to the legislature. When judges assume this role, as the majority does here, see ante, at ¶23 (“driving sober on a DUI suspended license does not reach the moral repugnancy nor deserve the consequences of a conviction for driving a vehicle while actually under the influence of alcohol”), the results will always be unpredictable.
¶ 34 Today’s decision is a prime example of that. The court rejects Blanton, and then, after a detailed analysis of the Rothweiler test, ultimately concludes that no jury trial is *98required. And yet, if you look at the opinion of the court of appeals, 194 Ariz. 224, 979 P.2d 1017, applying the same Rothweiler test, you will see a plausible approach that reaches the exact opposite conclusion. Then turn to the dissent in the court of appeals, 194 Ariz. at 229, 979 P.2d at 1022, to see yet another approach under Rothweiler. The result is that until there is an ultimate determination by a majority of this court, one can never know whether one is entitled to a jury. The patchwork quilt we create defies reasoned analysis.
¶35 I would, therefore, for the reasons stated at greater length in my concurring opinion in Strohson, inter the Rothweiler /Dolny three factor test and adopt the Blanton test as our own. Under that test, Benitez is not entitled to a trial by jury because the maximum period of incarceration for his offense cannot exceed six months, and there are no “additional statutory penalties” that are “so severe” that they clearly reflect a legislative determination that the offense in question is a ‘serious one’.” Blanton, 489 U.S. at 543, 109 S.Ct. at 1293.
CONCURRING: RUTH Y. McGREGOR, Justice.