Derendal v. Griffith

104 P.3d 147, 209 Ariz. 416, 443 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 20, 2005 Ariz. LEXIS 24
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 14, 2005
DocketCV-04-0037-PR
StatusPublished
Cited by63 cases

This text of 104 P.3d 147 (Derendal v. Griffith) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Derendal v. Griffith, 104 P.3d 147, 209 Ariz. 416, 443 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 20, 2005 Ariz. LEXIS 24 (Ark. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

McGREGOR, Vice Chief Justice.

¶ 1 We granted review to consider whether Arizona should retain the test set out in Rothweiler v. Superior Court, 100 Ariz. 37, 410 P.2d 479 (1966), to determine when the Arizona Constitution mandates that a criminal offense be eligible for trial by jury.

I.

¶ 2 Justin Derendal was charged in Phoenix Municipal Court with drag racing, 1 a class one misdemeanor, Ariz.Rev.Stat. (A.R.S.) § 28-708.B (2001), punishable by a maximum of six months incarceration, see A.R.S. § 13-707.A.1 (2001), and a $2,500 fine, see A.R.S. § 13-802.A (2001). The municipal court denied Derendal’s request for a jury trial, and Derendal filed a special action in superior court. The superior court accepted jurisdiction but denied relief, and Derendal appealed to the court of appeals.

¶ 3 The court of appeals applied the three-part test established by this court in Roth-weiler and, concluding that drag racing failed to meet any of the three tests for jury eligibility set out in Rothweiler, affirmed the superior court’s judgment.

¶ 4 We granted Derendal’s petition for review and ordered the parties to file supplemental briefs addressing whether the Rothweiler test should remain the test for determining jury trial eligibility in Arizona. We exercise jurisdiction pursuant to Article 6, Section 5.3 of the Arizona Constitution and A.R.S. § 12-120.24 (2003).

II.

¶ 5 In 1966, this court adopted a three-pronged test to decide whether, with regard to a particular criminal offense, the federal or Arizona Constitution guarantees the right to a jury trial. Relying on both federal and Arizona constitutional law, we defined three factors as relevant to that inquiry: (1) the relationship of the offense to common law crimes; (2) the severity of the statutory penalties that apply; and (3) the moral quality of the act. Rothweiler, 100 Ariz. at 42, 410 P.2d at 483. Over time, Arizona courts have come to view these factors as three independent prongs in the constitutional analysis of the right to jury trial. See, e.g., State v. Harrison, 164 Ariz. 316, 317, 792 P.2d 779, 780 (App.1990) (“Each prong [of the Rothweiler test] is independently sufficient to give rise to a jury trial.”).

¶ 6 Twenty-three years after our Rothweiler decision, the United States Supreme Court held that any criminal offense for which the maximum statutory penalty is less than six months incarceration is presumptively a petty offense to which the right of trial by jury guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution does not attach. Blanton v. City of North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538, 543, 109 S.Ct. 1289, 103 L.Ed.2d 550 (1989). On several occasions, this court has rejected invitations to replace the Rothweiler test with the Blan *409 ton test, reasoning that the Arizona Constitution requires greater protection of the right to trial by jury than does the federal constitution. See, e.g., Benitez v. Dunevant, 198 Ariz. 90, 94 ¶ 10, 7 P.3d 99, 103 (2000); State ex rel. McDougall v. Strohson, 190 Ariz. 120, 126-27, 945 P.2d 1251, 1257-58 (1997); cf. State ex rel. Dean v. Dolny, 161 Ariz. 297, 299, 778 P.2d 1193, 1195 (1989). We have never expressly considered whether we should adopt a modified version of Blanton. We do so today.

¶ 7 Two separate provisions of the Arizona Constitution secure the right to jury trial for certain criminal defendants. The first, Article 2, Section 23, provides that “[t]he right of trial by jury shall remain inviolate.” The second, Article 2, Section 24, further provides that “[i]n criminal prosecutions, the accused shall have the right to ... a speedy public trial by an impartial jury of the county in which the offense is alleged to have been committed....”

¶ 8 We have established several principles that govern the interpretation of these constitutional provisions. We have long interpreted them as preserving, rather than creating, the right to jury trial as it existed in Arizona prior to statehood. Bowden v. Nugent, 26 Ariz. 485, 488, 226 P. 549, 549-50 (1924); Brown v. Greer, 16 Ariz. 215, 217, 141 P. 841, 842 (1914). In addition, it is well settled that under the common law at the time of Arizona’s statehood, only those accused of “serious offenses” had a right to trial by jury. See, e.g., Goldman v. Kautz, 111 Ariz. 431, 432, 531 P.2d 1138, 1139 (1975); Rothweiler, 100 Ariz. at 42, 410 P.2d at 482; Bowden, 26 Ariz. at 491, 226 P. at 551. Thus, Article 2, Sections 23 and 24 do not independently grant a right to jury trial to all criminal defendants; rather, they preserve the right to jury trial for those accused of serious offenses. Benitez, 198 Ariz. at 93 ¶ 4, 7 P.3d at 102; Doing, 161 Ariz. at 299, 778 P.2d at 1195. As a result, the “test for jury eligibility in this state requires an inquiry into the seriousness of the offense.” Benitez, 198 Ariz. at 92 ¶ 4, 7 P.3d at 101.

A.

¶ 9 The language of Article 2, Section 23 mandates that we retain the Rothweiler test’s first prong: the relationship of the offense to common law crimes. We have consistently held that the phrase “shall remain inviolate” preserves the right to jury trial as it existed at the time Arizona adopted its constitution. Benitez, 198 Ariz. at 93 ¶ 4, 7 P.3d at 102; Bowden, 26 Ariz. at 488, 226 P. at 550. 2 Thus, our constitution requires that the state guarantee a right to jury trial for any defendant charged with an offense for which a jury trial was granted prior to statehood.

¶ 10 We have further held that when the right to jury trial for an offense existed prior to statehood, it cannot be denied for modern statutory offenses of the same “character or grade.” Bowden, 26 Ariz. at 491, 226 P. at 551. Because the Arizona legislature abolished all common law crimes more than thirty years ago, see A.R.S. § 13-103.A

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Bluebook (online)
104 P.3d 147, 209 Ariz. 416, 443 Ariz. Adv. Rep. 20, 2005 Ariz. LEXIS 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/derendal-v-griffith-ariz-2005.