Winters v. State

The present case involves the question of whether a criminal defendant’s waiver of his right to a jury trial was valid. More specifically, we are asked to address the validity of the waiver in light of the fact that, during the waiver colloquy, the trial judge provided the defendant with advice that the judge not only was not required to give to the defendant, but that was also erroneous. We shall conclude that the erroneous advisement may have misled the defendant to believe that a jury trial was a less attractive option than it actually would be under Maryland law, and, thereby, influenced…