Baldwin v. New York

Appellant was arrested and charged with “jostling”— a Class A misdemeanor in New York, punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of one year.1 He was brought to trial in the New York City Criminal Court. Section 40 of the New York City Criminal Court Act declares that all trials in that court shall be without a jury.2 Appellant’s pretrial motion for jury trial was accordingly denied. He was convicted and sentenced to imprisonment for the maximum term. The New York *68Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction, rejecting appellant’s argument that § 40 was unconstitutional insofar as it denied…