Dumas v. State

439 So. 2d 246
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedSeptember 13, 1983
Docket81-2293
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 439 So. 2d 246 (Dumas v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dumas v. State, 439 So. 2d 246 (Fla. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

439 So.2d 246 (1983)

Anthony DUMAS, Appellant,
v.
The STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 81-2293.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.

September 13, 1983.
Rehearing Denied November 7, 1983.

*248 Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Howard K. Blumberg, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.

Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Steven R. Jacob, and Jack Ludin, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellee.

Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., and HENDRY, BARKDULL, HUBBART, NESBITT, BASKIN, DANIEL S. PEARSON, FERGUSON and JORGENSON, JJ.

FERGUSON, Judge.

The question presented for review is whether record evidence showing an information stamped "waived trial by jury with consent of state", above which is the signature of the defendant, is sufficient, on a direct appeal from a judgment of conviction, to support a finding of an effective waiver of that constitutional right. We hold that it may be sufficient, and is in this case.

The following exchange appears in the record on the date the case was called for trial:

PROSECUTOR: This [case of Anthony Dumas] was set for a bench trial at eight o'clock. We did not try the case.
I believe we are in the process of plea negotiations at this time, and we may pass it.
Marilynn [defense counsel], is that correct?
DEFENSE COUNSEL: That is correct.
THE COURT: All right.
(Thereupon, other matters were heard, after which the following proceedings were had:)
THE COURT: Anthony Dumas.
DEFENSE COUNSEL: We are ready for trial.

The entire record on the waiver question consists of that colloquy and the signed written waiver on the information. On these facts, the present case is virtually *249 indistinguishable from Viggiani v. State, 390 So.2d 147 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980), rev. denied, 402 So.2d 613 (Fla. 1981).

In Viggiani v. State, we held that a defendant did not effectively waive his right to trial by jury where the minimal requirements for a valid and effective waiver were not met, i.e., that the defendant's signature be executed in open court and incorporated either in the transcript of the proceedings or otherwise made part of the record. We recede from Viggiani.[1]

Where a record shows a waiver, although there is no further evidence that the waiver was executed in open court,[2] there is a presumption that in the regular course of the proceedings the defendant, through his attorney, learned of, and waived his constitutional right to jury trial. The presumption which springs from defendant's signature on the formal charging document[3] denoting waiver of jury trial, is, more precisely, that the defendant was advised by his attorney of his right to trial by jury, the consequences of relinquishing that right, and any advantages to be expected therefrom,[4] all of which makes for the knowing and intelligent waiver required by *250 Patton v. United States, 281 U.S. 276, 50 S.Ct. 253, 74 L.Ed. 854 (1930).[5]

The effect of the presumption is merely procedural, shifting the burden to the accused to produce evidence that the record showing of waiver, and all that it connotes, is untrue. The most important consideration given for the creation of a presumption of law is probability, i.e., that "proof of fact B renders the inference of the existence of fact A so probable that it is sensible and time-saving to assume the truth of fact A until the adversary disproves it."[6]

Defendant contends here that trial by jury is a fundamental constitutional right, guaranteed an accused, which is forfeited only by a waiver which is voluntary and intelligent, citing Johnson v. Zerbst, 304 U.S. 458, 58 S.Ct. 1019, 82 L.Ed. 1461 (1938); Patton v. United States, 281 U.S. 276, 50 S.Ct. 253, 74 L.Ed. 854 (1930); and Floyd v. State, 90 So.2d 105 (Fla. 1956). There is no disagreement on that point. Significantly, he does not allege here that his waiver was not knowingly or intelligently given, nor that he was prejudiced by any failure of an in-court examination to ascertain whether the waiver of jury trial was knowing, free and intelligent. See United States v. Tobias, 662 F.2d 381 (5th Cir.1981), cert. denied, 457 U.S. 1108, 102 S.Ct. 2908, 73 L.Ed.2d 1317 (1982). The real question presented is whether the record must affirmatively show that a defendant's waiver of a right to trial by jury was in fact knowing and intelligent. In support of his argument that there is a constitutional requirement for an affirmative showing of jury waiver, appellant directs us to Boykin v. Alabama, 395 U.S. 238, 89 S.Ct. 1709, 23 L.Ed.2d 274 (1969) which holds that there is reversible error under the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment where the record does not disclose that the defendant voluntarily and understandingly entered a guilty plea.

That Boykin v. Alabama concerned a plea of guilty instead of a waiver of trial by jury is a crucial distinction. An analogy of Boykin to a waiver of jury trial was rejected by the Ninth Circuit in United States v. Reyes-Meza de Polanco, 422 F.2d 1304 (9th Cir.), cert. denied, 397 U.S. 1081, 90 S.Ct. 1536, 25 L.Ed.2d 817 (1970), which held that the record, containing a written form signed by the appellant and her trial counsel, adequately reflected a waiver of right to jury trial in the absence of the court's personal interrogation of the appellant as to that waiver. A waiver of a jury trial does not foreclose an adversary proceeding on points of fact and law, nor does it preclude appellate review of the court's findings; thus, it does not have the weighty consequence of a guilty plea. A guilty plea, as noted in Boykin v. Alabama, is essentially the conviction and involves the simultaneous waiver of numerous constitutional rights — the privilege against compulsory self-incrimination, the right to trial by jury, and the right to confront one's accusers. While a guilty plea ends in judgment, jury waiver is often a tactical decision. Jackson v. United States, 394 F.2d 114 (5th Cir. *251 1968); Ciummei v. Commonwealth, 378 Mass. 504, 392 N.E.2d 1186 (1979).

A comparison of Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.260 (waiver of jury trial) with 3.170(j) (responsibility of court on plea of guilty) evidences the Florida Supreme Court's intent, consistent with Boykin v. Alabama, to establish more stringent requirements for a valid guilty plea than for a valid waiver of jury trial.

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Bluebook (online)
439 So. 2d 246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dumas-v-state-fladistctapp-1983.