Ludwig v. Massachusetts

• Decision Date: 30 June 1976
• Docket Number: No. 75-377,75-377
• Citation: 49 L.Ed.2d 732,427 U.S. 618,96 S.Ct. 2781
• Parties: Richard I. LUDWIG, Appellant, v. Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS
• Court: U.S. Supreme Court

427 U.S. 618

96 S.Ct. 2781

49 L.Ed.2d 732

Richard I. LUDWIG, Appellant,

v Commonwealth of MASSACHUSETTS.

No. 75-377.

Argued April 28, 1976.

Decided June 30, 1976.

Syllabus

Under Massachusetts' two-tier court system, a person accused of certain crimes is tried in the first instance in the lower tier, where no trial by jury is available. If convicted, he may appeal to the second tier, and, if he was convicted after a proceeding on a not-guilty plea, or by "admitting sufficient findings of fact," he is entitled to a trial De novo by jury in the second tier. Appellant, after he pleaded not guilty and after his motion for a jury trial was denied, was tried and convicted in a first-tier court. He then appealed to the second tier, and after unsuccessfully moving to dismiss on grounds that he had been deprived of his constitutional right to a speedy jury trial in the first instance and had been subjected to double jeopardy, he waived a jury trial and was again convicted. The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court affirmed, holding that the denial of appellant's request to be tried by a jury at his first trial did not violate his constitutional right to a speedy trial or to a trial by jury, and that the Massachusetts procedure did not violate the constitutional prohibition against putting a person twice in jeopardy. Held:

1. The Massachusetts two-tier court system does not deprive an accused of his Fourteenth Amendment right to a jury trial but absolutely guarantees trial by jury to persons accused of serious crimes, and the manner specified for exercising this right is fair and not unduly burdensome. Callan v. Wilson, 127 U.S. 540, 8 S.Ct. 1301, 32 L.Ed. 223, distinguished. Pp. 624-630.

(a) Within the system, the jury serves its function of protecting an accused from prosecutorial and judicial misconduct. Pp. 625-626.

(b) That an accused may undertake the financial cost of an additional trial does not unconstitutionally burden the right to a jury trial because he is not required to pursue a defense at the lower tier. Moreover, if an accused is indigent, the State is required to furnish him counsel without cost. Pp. 626-627.

(c) Nor does the possibility of a harsher sentence at the second tier impermissibly burden the accused's right to a jury trial. North Carolina v. Pearce, 395 U.S. 711, 89 S.Ct. 2072, 23 L.Ed.2d 656; Colten v. Kentucky, 407 U.S. 104, 92 St. 1953, 32 L.Ed.2d 584. P. 627.

(d) Where appellant no longer urges that he was denied his constitutional right to a speedy trial, and there is no evidence that there is a greater delay in obtaining a jury in Massachusetts than there would be if the two-tier system were abandoned, it cannot properly be contended that the system unconstitutionally burdens the right to a jury trial by imposing the increased psychological and physical hardships of two trials. Pp. 628-629.

2. The Massachusetts procedure does not violate the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth, and appellant's claim that because he had been placed once in jeopardy and convicted, the State may not retry him when he decides to "appeal" and secure a trial De novo is without merit. An accused who elects to be tried De novo is in no different position from a convicted defendant who successfully appeals on the basis of the trial record and gains a reversal of his conviction and a remand for a new trial. Nothing in the Double Jeopardy Clause prohibits a State from affording a defendant two opportunities to avoid conviction and secure an acquittal. Pp. 630-632.

Mass., 330 N.E.2d 467, affirmed.

Robert W. Hagopian, Cambridge, Mass., for appellant.

John J. Irwin, Jr., Boston, Mass., for appellee.

Mr. Justice BLACKMUN delivered the opinion of the Court.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts long ago established a "two-tier" system of trial courts for certain crimes. A person accused of such a crime is tried in the first instance in the lower tier. No trial by jurys available there. If convicted, the defendant may take a timely "appeal" to the second tier and, if he so desires, have a trial De novo by jury. The issues here presented are (1) whether, where the Constitution guarantees an accused a jury trial, it also requires that he be permitted to exercise that right at the first trial in the lower tier, and (2) whether the Massachusetts procedure violates the Double Jeopardy Clause of the Fifth Amendment made applicable to the States by the Fourteenth. Benton v. Maryland, 395 U.S. 784, 89 S.Ct. 2056, 23 L.Ed.2d 707 (1969).

I

Massachusetts is one of several States having a two-tier system of trial courts for criminal cases. See Colten v. Kentucky, 407 U.S. 104, 112 n. 4, 92 S.Ct. 1953, 1958, 32 L.Ed.2d 584 (1972). Some States provide a jury trial in each tier; others provide a jury only in the second tier but allow an accused to bypass the first; and still others, like Massachusetts, do not allow an accused to avoid a trial of some sort at the first tier before he obtains a trial by jury at the second.

The first tier of the Massachusetts system is composed of district courts of the State's several counties, and the Municipal Court of the city of Boston. Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. c. 218, § 1 (Supp. 1976-1977). These courts have jurisdiction over violations of municipal ordinances, over misdemeanors except criminal libel, over felonies having a maximum potential sentence of not more than five years, and over specified felonies having a maximum potential sentence in excess of five years. § 26.

A criminal proceeding in the first-tier court is begun with the issuance of a complaint. An accused then has two statutory alternatives. He may plead guilty at arraignment and be sentenced by the court. If he is dis- satisfied with the sentence, he may appeal. C. 278, § 18. In that case, however, the accused is not entitled to a trial de novo respecting his guilt or innocence; he is limited, instead, to a challenge to his sentenc Commonwealth v. Crapo, 212 Mass. 209, 98 N.E. 702 (1912).

If, on the other hand, the accused pleads not guilty in the first tier, he is tried by the judge without a jury. An acquittal there terminates the proceeding. After a judgment of guilty, however, he may appeal either to the superior court, where a 12-person jury is available, c. 278, §§ 2 and 18 (1972 and Supp. 1976-1977), or to the jury division of the district court where a jury of six is available. C. 218, § 27A; c. 278, § 18 (Supp. 1976-1977). See also Mann v. Commonwealth, 359 Mass. 661, 663-664, 271 N.E.2d 331, 333 (1971); Jones v. Robbins, 74 Mass. 329, 336, 341-342 (1857); Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. c. 278, § 18A (1972).

Unlike the two-tier Kentucky system under consideration in Colten v. Kentucky, supra, an accused in Massachusetts does not avoid trial in the first instance by pleading guilty. Nevertheless, he achieves essentially the same result by an established, informal procedure known as "admitting sufficient findings of fact." Tr. of Oral Arg. 31. See also Id., at 13, 32-33. This procedure is used "(i)f the defendant wishes to waive a trial in the District Court and save his rights for a trial in the Superior Court on the appeal." 30 K. Smith, Massachusetts Practice, Criminal Practice and Procedure § 754 (1970). The trial court then hears only enough evidence to assure itself that there is probable cause to believe that the defendant has committed the offense with which he is charged. The court, however, does make a finding of guilt and enter a judgment of conviction.

Once a person convicted in the district court indicates that he is going to appeal,¹ his conviction is vacated. e may suffer adverse collateral consequences from the conviction, such as revocation of parole or of his driver's license. Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. c. 90, §§ 24(1)(b) and (c) (1969 and Supp. 1976-1977). See Almeida v. Lucey, 372 F.Supp. 109 (Mass.), summarily aff'd, 419 U.S. 806, 95 S.Ct. 22, 42 L.Ed.2d 36 (1974); Boyle v. Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Mass., 331 N.E.2d 52, 53 (1975). Moreover, if the accused "fails to enter and prosecute his appeal, he shall be defaulted on his recognizance and the superior court may impose sentence upon him for the crime of which he was convicted, as if he had been convicted in said court." Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. c. 278, § 24 (1972).

If an accused does appeal and does not default, he may, upon request, be tried Do novo by a jury. If, again, he is found guilty, he may appeal, as of right, to the Massachusetts Appeals Court or to the Supreme Judicial Court where he may raise both factual and legal claims of error. §§ 28, 28B (1972).

II

On February 1, 1974, in the District Court of Northern Norfolk, appellant Ludwig was charged with operating a motor vehicle "negligently . . . so that the lives and safety of the public might be endangered," App. 3 in violation of Mass.Gen.Laws Ann. c. 90, § 24(2)(a) (Supp. 1976-1977). This offense carries a maximum penalty of a fine of $200, or two years' imprisonment, or both. On the same day, Ludwig was arraigned and pleaded not guilty.

At the commencement of trial on March 11, appellant moved for a "speedy trial by jury," citing the Fifth and Sixth Amendments. The motion was denied, and, after a brief trial, the court adjudged Ludwig guilty and imposed a fine of $20. Thereafter, appellant asserted his statutory right to a trial De novo before a six-man jury in the District Court.

In the De novo proceeding, appellant filed a "motion to dismiss" on the grounds that he had been deprived of his federal constitutional right to a speedy jury trial in the first instance, and that he had been subjected to double jeopardy. App. 5a-6a. The motion was denied. At the second trial on April 5, appellant waived a jury and, after trial by the court, again was adjudged guilty, and again was fined $20.

On appeal, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts affirmed the judgment of conviction. Mass., 330 N.E.2d 467 (1975). Relying on its earlier ...