YOU DON'T ALWAYS GET A JURY

During a phone call made to the mother of his two children, Marcos Urbaez supposedly threatened to "withhold child support, beat her, knock out her teeth and break her face."

As a result of that misconduct, Urbaez was charged with aggravated harassment -- a class A misdemeanor. When prosecutors opted to reduce the charge to "attempted aggravated harassment" -- a class B misdemeanor -- Urbaez objected, arguing that the maneuver was intended to deny him a jury trial.

Both the New York City Criminal Court, and the Appellate Term, First Department, could discern no irregularity by the reduction.

On appeal, the New York State Court of Appeals held that a defendant has the right to a jury only when a "serious offense" is concerned and the maximum penalty for incarceration is over seven months.

Because Urbaez faced no jail time for his "relatively nonserious" crime, our state's highest court affirmed noting that by allowing prosecutors to process a "high volume of misdemeanor cases" as they saw fit, "the important public interest of effective judicial administration" was promoted.

Next!

To download a copy of the Court of Appeals' decision, please use this link: People v. Urbaez