Opinion
September 24, 1943.
Appeal from Clinton County.
On January 6, 1939, appellant withdrew a former plea of not guilty and pleaded guilty to the crime of burglary in the third degree, as a second offender, in the Albany County Court, and on January 10, 1939, was sentenced to imprisonment of not less than ten nor more than twenty years. He claims his sentence and imprisonment are illegal because of the constitutional provision (N.Y. Const. art. I, § 2 [Trial by jury; how waived.]) which reads as follows: "* * * A jury trial may be waived by the defendant in all criminal cases, except those in which the crime charged may be punishable by death, by a written instrument signed by the defendant in person in open court before and with the approval of a judge or justice of a court having jurisdiction to try the offense. * * *" This provision of the Constitution has no application to appellant's case. He had no trial, jury or otherwise. Instead, he pleaded guilty and was sentenced without trial. Order affirmed, without costs. All concur.