Court Opinion

ID: 9750859
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-28 15:41:22.603908+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:26:25.686770
License: Public Domain

Cole, J.,

concurring:

I concur in the result reached by my colleagues in the cases decided today and commend them for emphasizing the deep commitment this Court has in preserving the integrity of the jury trial and exercising care that a criminal defendant who *464relinquishes his right to be tried by a jury understands at that moment the impact of what he is doing. Nonetheless, it seems to me that rather than run the full mile the Court stops short of the finish line.
I agree that before his waiver can be accepted by the court, a defendant should make clear for the record that he understands what a jury trial is: a panel of 12 persons who must all agree to his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt and to a moral certainty. However, this is not enough.
The record should also reveal that the defendant understands he has the right to participate in the selection of those 12 persons so as to satisfy himself within the bounds of reason that these persons who shall decide his fate are his peers, drawn from a cross-section of his community, irrespective of race, sex, color, creed, or economic and political status and free from prejudice. Our laws and procedures grant him this right so as to assure him a fair and impartial trial. This right to choose his “judges” is, probably more than any other, the most distinctive difference between a judge and jury trial.
My colleagues suggest that such an inquiry by the court will unduly delay the administration of justice. I respectfully suggest to them that a speedy trial is not as fundamental as substantial justice. The time required to make such additional inquiry is minimal and is more than justified. It is clear to me that a demonstration on the record that the defendant understands his right to assist in selecting a jury of his peers and thereafter relinquishes this right to a jury trial will give full credibility to the judicial determination that he has performed this act freely, knowingly and voluntarily. Indeed, after running these few steps, we shall have crossed the finish line.