BENEFIT'S OF GOING WITH A JUDGE TRIAL AS WELL AS THE BENEFITS OF GOING WITH A JURY

Question

I am going up for trial on 9/15 for poss. of coc., poss, of marijauna, and poss, of paraphana. The drug task force kicked in the door to one of my rental properties tha I had just purchased 2 week's before. When they busted in, I was cleaning up. I am innocent of these charges. The thing's they found were left over from the man we purchased the house from. I was unaware that the thing's they found were there. Shoul I go with a judge trial or a trial by jury?

Answer 1

It may be of your best interest to choose a trial by jury.I think judges have a tendency to be one sided.The more people you have hearing your case the better off you are.

Please talk to your attorney,

Answer 2

You should discuss this with your lawyer. Your lawyer will know more about your local judges and jurioes than anyone here could guess at.

If you did not bother to hire a lawyer, better plan on going away for sometime.

Answer 3

Your lawyer should go over this with you, and if you don't have a lawyer, get one quickly!  

Basically, the benefit of going with a trial that is just before the judge is that it isn't as costly--you won't have to pay the jurors for being there, and you won't have to pay your attorney to go through the jury selection process.  The advantage is that the state has to convince a dozen ordinary people that you are guilty, rather than simply convincing a judge.  This could be good if your story is honest--you probably are legally on the hook for what is in an apartment you currently own and aren't renting out to anyone (it is your place), yet common sense dictates that you shouldn't be.  

Your lawyer will help you decide the better course of action, as he will know how likely a judge would be to just toss this case, and how likely your chances would be in each scenario.  

Answer 4

That's a tough call.  You definitely should get a lawyer.  You need to go through the discovery process to see where the probable cause for their "no-knock" warrant came from.  If it came from an investigation of the property and not an investigation of YOU, you're going to have a much better case.  A jury may or may not be more sympathetic.  A judge will probably be more rational and able to connect the dots better than 12 random people.  I'm not sure how I would proceed if I were in your situation.  I would definitely hire an attorney and start making motions for discovery right away.  You don't have to make a decision for a judge/jury trial immediately to my knowledge.  

Answer 5

Get a very good lawyer. Let him decide that is what you will be paying him for.