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A judge who has decided pretrial matters that involved passing on the defendant’s credibility, for example, might conclude that the court’s impartiality as a factfinder could reasonably be questioned. 126, 141 (1981) (“judge’s conclusion that certain pretrial matters which came to his attention, including statements of defense counsel, would unfairly prejudice, at least in appearance, the rights of the defendant is a ‘good and sufficient reason’”). In addition to these requirements, the judge must approve the waiver, and may refuse to do so for any good and sufficient reason. While the requirement for a colloquy was imposed by the Supreme Judicial Court under its superintendence function, and the requirement for a written waiver is statutory, “ waiver obtained without observing both requirements is ineffective.” Commonwealth v. Second, a written waiver must be signed by the defendant and filed with the court.
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504, 509-10 (1979) (recommending colloquy address features of the jury’s role, such as that the jury consists of community members, that defendant may participate in jurors’ selection, that the jury’s verdict must be unanimous, and that the jury decides guilt or innocence but that the judge alone will do this if the jury is waived). First, the judge must conduct an oral colloquy with the defendant to ensure that the waiver is entered knowingly and voluntarily.
Colloquy defendant trial#
When a defendant pleads not guilty and seeks trial by the judge instead of by a jury, there are two requirements for the valid waiver of the right to a jury trial. 19(b) that were made to implement Commonwealth v. 19(a) makes minor stylistic edits to provide consistency with amendments to Mass. Rule 45: Removal of the disruptive defendant.Rule 39: Records of foreign proceedings and notice of foreign law.Rule 35: Depositions to perpetuate testimony.Rule 33: Counsel for defendants indigent or indigent but able to contribute.Rule 31: Stay of execution relief pending review automatic expiration of stay.Rule 29: Revision or revocation of disposition.Rule 25: Motion required for finding of not guilty.Rule 24: Opening statements arguments instructions to jury.Rule 11: Pretrial conference and pretrial hearing.Rule 9: Joinder of offenses or defendants.Rule 7: Initial appearance and arraignment.Rule 6: Summons to appear arrest warrant.Rule 4: Form and contents of complaint or indictment amendment.Rule 3.1: Determination of probable cause for detention.
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Rule 3: Complaint and indictment waiver of indictment probable cause hearing.Rule 2: Purpose construction definition of terms.
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