Court Opinion

ID: 9678045
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:09:31.117748+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:01.571472
License: Public Domain

W.C. DAVIS, Judge,
concurring.
Upon reconsideration of appellant’s contention, I agree that the issue is whether, for purposes of appellate review, a recital in the judgment that appellant waived his right to trial by jury, suffices to affirmatively show waiver. The issue is not whether the State failed to comply with the mandatory provisions of Art. 1.13, V.A.C. C.P. because appellant does not contend that he did not waive his right to jury trial. Rather, he essentially contends that the appellate record does not adequately reflect his waiver because the written waiver itself is not in the record. Appellant argues that this Court should not presume a waiver just because the judgment states that he did waive his right to trial by jury.
I join the opinion of the Court that where the judgment of conviction recites that a defendant “waived his right to trial by jury”, the record affirmatively shows a waiver by that defendant. The burden is then on the defendant to refute that recitation and show that he did not waive his right to trial by jury as required by Art. 1.1S.1

. A different case is presented when the record contains either a judgment reciting merely that no jury was demanded or when the record is silent on the issue. In such cases, the record does not affirmatively reflect a waiver of the right to trial by jury, as is required.