The Status of Jury Trial Waivers in Maine's District Court

The power of a defendant to waive jury trial in state and federal criminal prosecutions has long been recognized. At the same time, when the offense charged is serious, i.e., one which invokes a federal constitutional right to jury trial, the United States Supreme Court has required a careful examination of the validity of such a waiver. The waiver rule applicable in Maine's superior court fully appreciates this strict waiver standard. Exercising its rulemaking authority, however, Maine's Supreme Judicial Court adopted a rule (effective in 1982) for waiver of jury trial in the state's district court which seemingly obscured the criminal defendant's unequivocal right to jury trial. But two years later in State v. Rowell, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, has interpreted that district court waiver provision in a manner which assures the continued vitality of the Maine criminal defendant's jury trial right.