(Download) "People V. Ernst" by California Supreme Court # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People V. Ernst
- Author : California Supreme Court
- Release Date : January 13, 1994
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 56 KB
Description
In People v. Howard (1992) 1 Cal. 4th 1132, 824 P.2d 1315 [Howard], we held that the defendant validly admitted having served an alleged prior prison term, despite the trial court's failure to advise him expressly of the privilege against self-incrimination, because, "considering the totality of the relevant circumstances, . . . defendant's admission of the prior conviction was voluntary and intelligent . . . ." (Id. at p. 1180.) In the present case, the People contend that the totality-of-the-circumstances test applied in Howard also should apply when a court trial is conducted in a criminal prosecution without an express waiver by the defendant of the right to a jury trial, and that the Court of Appeal in the present case erred in reversing defendant's conviction based upon the absence of such an express waiver. For the reasons that follow, we hold that our decision in Howard did not alter the long-established rule that, by virtue of the explicit language of the California Constitution, a judgment in a criminal case resulting from a court trial must be reversed if the defendant did not expressly waive the right to a trial by jury.