Budeanu v. State

751 S.E.2d 924, 325 Ga. App. 177, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 4011, 2013 WL 6163339, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 989
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedNovember 22, 2013
DocketA13A1384
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 751 S.E.2d 924 (Budeanu v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Budeanu v. State, 751 S.E.2d 924, 325 Ga. App. 177, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 4011, 2013 WL 6163339, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 989 (Ga. Ct. App. 2013).

Opinion

Miller, Judge.

Following a bench trial, Petru Budeanu appeals from his conviction of two counts of attempting to entice a child for indecent purposes (OCGA §§ 16-6-5 (a); 16-4-1) and the denial of his motion for new trial, contending that the evidence was legally insufficient and that the record fails to show that he made a knowing and intelligent waiver of his right to a jury trial.

On appeal from a criminal conviction,

the evidence must be viewed in the light most favorable to the verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence; moreover, an appellate court does not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility but only determines whether the evidence is sufficient under the standard of Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U. S. 307 (99 SC 2781, 61 LE2d 560) (1979).

(Citation omitted.) Cordy v. State, 315 Ga. App. 849 (1) (729 SE2d 13) (2012).

Viewed with all inferences in favor of the trial court’s findings, the evidence shows that, in May 2009, C. C., then 14 years of age, and V. A., then 13 years old, lived in the same apartment complex and often spent the night with each other. On May 25, C. C. and V. A. were walking V. A.’s new puppy in their pajamas around 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. after C. C. had spent the night with V. A. As they were walking, they noticed a white and gray van pull into the neighbor’s driveway where they were standing. Thinking that the van was going to park there, the girls walked on to V. A.’s family’s driveway in front of her townhome. As they did so, the van backed out of the neighbor’s driveway and pulled into V. A.’s family’s driveway. Budeanu got out of the van, took a few steps toward them, and asked “[y]ou want sex?” or “[d]o you want to have sex?” The girls began to try to get into V. A.’s family’s apartment and knocked hard on the front door. When they were trying to open the door, Budeanu asked their names, then said “[n]o, no, no, don’t open the door[,]” and “[d]o you want to have sex?” [178]*178V. A.’s stepfather opened the door, and the girls told him what had happened. When the door opened, Budeanu got in his van and left.

According to V. A.’s stepfather, who is Romanian as is Budeanu, parking places are assigned to the townhomes and V. A.’s family’s townhome was Number 69, located near the rear of the complex. When the stepfather opened the door that day, the girls looked scared and said a guy asked them about sex. V. A.’s stepfather went outside and saw the van pulling off. V. A.’s stepfather did not call the police that day but spoke to them three weeks later after C. C.’s father had called them.

C. C.’s father testified that his family lived in Town Home Number 12, near the front of the complex. C. C.’s father saw the van drive into the complex on the morning of May 25, while he was out walking his dogs. He had seen the van several times before in his complex and the complex next door. C. C.’s father spoke to Budeanu about two days after the incident with his daughter. He advised Budeanu that he was told that Budeanu asked C. C. to have sex. He told Budeanu “[n]ow, I don’t know if it’s true or not, but the next time I see you over here me and you are going to have a problem and I advise you to leave.” Budeanu responded that he did not do anything, but left anyway. Thereafter, C. C.’s father continued to see the van in the complex. Three weeks after the incident, on June 18, he followed the van to the rear of the complex, got a license number, and called police.

1. Considering the waiver of jury trial first, we agree with Budeanu that the State failed to prove that he voluntarily, knowingly, and intelligently waived his right to a jury trial.

A defendant’s right to trial by a jury is a fundamental constitutional right that the defendant must personally, knowingly, voluntarily, and intelligently choose to waive. Balbosa v. State, 275 Ga. 574, 575 (1) (571 SE2d 368) (2002); Thomas v. State, 297 Ga. App. 416, 419 (2) (677 SE2d 433) (2009). “A defendant’s consent to a trial without a jury need not be in any particular, ritualistic form; the trial court need only conduct an inquiry of the accused on the record so as to ensure that the waiver is knowing, voluntary and intelligent[.]” (Punctuation and footnote omitted.) Ealey v. State, 310 Ga. App. 893, 894 (714 SE2d 424) (2011).

When a defendant challenges his purported waiver of the right to a jury trial, the State bears the burden of showing that the waiver was made both knowingly and intelligently, either “(1) by showing on the record that the defendant was cognizant of the right being waived; or (2) by filling a silent or incomplete record through the use of extrinsic evidence which affirmatively shows that the waiver was knowingly and voluntarily made.” (Citations and punctuation omitted.) Allison [179]*179v. State, 288 Ga. App. 482, 485-486 (2) (654 SE2d 628) (2007). This may be done by use of testimony from, or an affidavit of, trial counsel about his specific recollections; routine or standard practices; and evidence regarding the defendant’s intelligence and cognitive ability. See id. at 486 (2); Jones v. State, 294 Ga. App. 169, 170 (1) (670 SE2d 104) (2008).

There is nothing in the record signed by Budeanu to indicate a waiver of a jury trial. Further, there is no record of any colloquy showing that the trial court asked Budeanu sufficient questions on the record to ensure that his waiver of a jury trial was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent. The trial court’s only statement regarding this issue is at the beginning of the bench trial when he states: “... it’s my understanding, [trial counsel] ... that your client has previously waived his right to a jury trial and agreed to a trial by the Court sitting without a jury.” Trial counsel responded “[t]hat is correct, Your Honor.” Although Budeanu voiced no objection at this point, his failure to object to a bench trial shows, at most, only that such waiver was voluntary, not that it was also knowing and intelligent. See Jones, supra, 294 Ga. App. 170 (1); cf. Balbosa, supra, 275 Ga. at 575 (1) (when trial counsel waives the right to a jury trial in defendant’s presence, it shows only that waiver was voluntary).

Trial counsel testified at the motion for new trial hearing that he discussed with Budeanu the issue of whether to have a jury or bench trial at least twice. Because Budeanu was Romanian and did not speak English well, his family retained an interpreter to attend attorney/client meetings. An interpreter also participated in his trial. According to trial counsel,

I don’t really think Mr. Budeanu had a preference. He might not have understood exactly what was going on. I understood what was going on, and I think [the interpreter] did, too. And that’s why — it wasn’t a clear cut answer; the decision was not clear cut. There were advantages and disadvantages of both sides. So he pretty much just paid attention to what I said through [the interpreter] and asked questions.

(Emphasis supplied.)

Asked if he had ever explained his rights to Budeanu, trial counsel stated that

I did not really discuss with him. I just told him that we could do it either way.

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751 S.E.2d 924, 325 Ga. App. 177, 2013 Fulton County D. Rep. 4011, 2013 WL 6163339, 2013 Ga. App. LEXIS 989, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/budeanu-v-state-gactapp-2013.