Jones v. State

JOHNSON, Presiding Judge.

Following a bench trial, Rebecca Ruth Jones was convicted of two counts of keeping a vicious animal in violation of a Cobb County ordinance. Jones claims that the state failed to show that she knowingly and intelligently waived her constitutional right to a jury trial. We agree and reverse.

The record shows that Jones was indicted after her dogs bit and injured her neighbor while the neighbor was on Jones’ property. Jones requested a jury trial, and her case was transferred from magistrate court to the State Court of Cobb County. On July 14, 2006, Jones waived formal…