United States v. Michael J. Gochis

MANION, Circuit Judge.

Michael Gochis was tried before a magistrate judge, and convicted by a jury of three counts of a Class A misdemeanor. The district court vacated the judgment of conviction and ordered a new trial, concluding that because the magistrate judge had failed to explain to Gochis his right to trial, judgment, and sentencing by a district judge, the magistrate judge lacked the authority to preside over the trial. The government appeals, arguing that the magistrate judge had the authority to preside over Gochis’s trial because Gochis and his counsel filed a written consent to be…