Commonwealth v. Collado

690 N.E.2d 424, 426 Mass. 675, 1998 Mass. LEXIS 47
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedFebruary 12, 1998
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 690 N.E.2d 424 (Commonwealth v. Collado) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. Collado, 690 N.E.2d 424, 426 Mass. 675, 1998 Mass. LEXIS 47 (Mass. 1998).

Opinion

Abrams, J.

The defendant, Juan Collado, was charged with trafficking in cocaine because of a sale of cocaine to an [676]*676undercover police officer. After the jury empanelment process had begun, Collado asked to waive his right to a jury trial, but his codefendant, Severeano Tavarez, did not. Collado’s request was granted after empanelment was completed but before the jurors had been sworn. The bench trial of the defendant and the jury trial of his codefendant proceeded simultaneously. Both defendants were convicted.1 The Appeals Court vacated Collado’s conviction on the ground that the jury waiver was ineffective under G. L. c. 263, § 6, and Mass. R. Grim. P. 19 (a), 378 Mass. 888 (1979).2 Commonwealth v. Collado, 42 Mass. App. Ct. 464 (1997). We allowed the Commonwealth’s application for further appellate review. We now affirm Collado’s conviction.

1. Jury waiver. Collado contends that the waiver of his right to a jury trial was ineffective. First, he argues that the trial judge’s violation of G. L. c. 263, § 6,3 and rule 19 (a)4 requires that we reverse his conviction. Second, he argues that the judge [677]*677failed to conduct an adequate colloquy, as required by Ciummei v. Commonwealth, 378 Mass. 504 (1979), to ensure that the waiver was knowing, voluntary, and intelligent.

a. There is no dispute that the jury waiver in this case violated both G. L. c. 263, § 6, and rule 19 (a). In a criminal trial with multiple defendants, all defendants must be tried by a jury, or all by the judge, or else the judge must sever the cases. Moreover, under G. L. c. 263, § 6, a defendant wishing to waive a jury trial must do so before the jurors are empanelled. Apparently unaware of the statute and rule, the judge permitted the hybrid trial of Collado and Tavarez to proceed. This was an error as to both the nature of the trial and the timing of the waiver.

Nonetheless, we do not believe that this error mandates that we reverse Collado’s conviction. We believe that G. L. c. 263, § 6, and rule 19 (a) are procedural in nature. The Superior Court clearly had jurisdiction to hold a jury-waived trial in this matter. Prior to the amendment of G. L. c. 263, § 6, by St. 1929, c. 185, § 1, to include the jury waiver provisions, this court said that the courts lacked jurisdiction to hear jury-waived criminal trials. See Commonwealth v. Rowe, 257 Mass. 172, 180-181 (1926). The Rowe court did not deny that criminal defendants possessed a right to waive a jury trial. See id. at 175-176. It reasoned that the jury was “a constituent part of the tribunal for the determination of disputed facts whenever a defendant pleaded not guilty to an indictment,” and that the Legislature, by including no provision for a jury-waived trial, imposed a “specific limitation of [the Superior Court’s] powers by statute.” Id. at 180. After the addition of the 1929 amendment, however, “[t]he jury for all except capital cases was no longer a ‘constituent part’ of that tribunal. . . . The ‘specific limitation of its powers by statute’ had been removed except in capital cases.” Gallo v. Commonwealth, 343 Mass. 397, 401 (1961), quoting Rowe, supra at 180. The language at the end of § 6 that “the court shall have jurisdiction,” like similar language in the statute addressed in Gallo, strikes us as having been included “in an abundance of caution.” Gallo, supra at 402. We think the reasoning of Rowe — that defendants possess a right (albeit a nonconstitutional one) to have jury-waived trials, but the courts lack power to hear jury-waived trials — [678]*678whatever its validity at the time, has no validity after the 1929 amendment.

The “all or none” provisions in both § 6 and rule 19 (a) were meant to “avoid two trials where one codefendant wanted a bench trial and another wanted a jury trial.” Commonwealth v. Greene, 400 Mass. 144, 148 (1987), citing Commonwealth v. Boris, 317 Mass. 309, 311 (1944). The jury waiver provisions thus do not vest any personal right in criminal defendants, but reduce the strain on court resources. We hesitate to reverse a judge for his unintentional violation of a rule that was not enacted for the benefit of those in Collado’s position. We conclude that G. L. c. 263, § 6, and rule 19 (a) merely prescribe procedures to be followed if a defendant or a codefendant wishes to waive the right to a jury trial. Because the jury-waiver procedures set out in the statute and the rule do not limit the court’s power to hear the case, they do not give rise to a per se rule mandating reversal. See Commonwealth v. Dailey, 12 Cush. 80, 83 (1853) (defendant “may waive any matter of form or substance, excepting only what may relate to the jurisdiction of the court”).

Collado cites Commonwealth v. Pavao, 423 Mass. 798 (1996), in support of his position that a defective jury waiver requires reversal. That case is inapplicable. In Pavao, we held that the failure to conduct a Ciummei colloquy mandated reversal and that a harmless error analysis was inappropriate. Pavao, supra at 800-804. Our concern in Pavao was the voluntariness of the jury waiver. The fact that a jury waiver violates a procedural rule, as it did in Collado’s case, does not render it involuntary. We conclude that in noncapital cases, an unintentional violation of either G. L. c. 263, § 6, or rule 19 (a) will result in reversal only if the defendant can show a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.5

Collado has not done so. Collado points to one possible prejudicial effect: the judge’s access to evidence not properly admissible against him. This risk, however, exists in any bench trial, for whenever a party makes an offer of proof, the judge must pass on the admissibility of the evidence, and if it is inadmissible, ignore it. The law presumes that a judge is able to [679]*679sort out the evidence and rely only on that which is admissible. See Berlandi v. Commonwealth, 314 Mass. 424, 453-454 (1943). Collado has shown nothing to disturb this presumption. We conclude that the hybrid trial in this case did not create a substantial risk of a miscarriage of justice.

b. Collado next contends that the colloquy was inadequate. He argues that because the judge did not ask whether he understood that the fact finder in his case would also make rulings of law and hear all the evidence in Tavarez’s case or that there would be no instructions of law in his own case, the record does not establish that the waiver was knowing and voluntary. We reject this argument.

The colloquy establishes that Collado understood that he had a constitutional right to a jury trial; that the judge alone would decide his guilt or innocence; that he was waiving the rights to unanimity and challenges6; that Collado was not coerced or induced into relinquishing his rights; that he had discussed the decision with his counsel; and that he was not under the influence of drugs, alcohol, or mental illness. The colloquy was more than adequate to convince the judge that Collado was waiving his rights intelligently and voluntarily. This is all that is required. See Commonwealth v. Abreu, 391 Mass. 777 (1984).

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Bluebook (online)
690 N.E.2d 424, 426 Mass. 675, 1998 Mass. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-collado-mass-1998.