From Telegram.com
A special counsel urged the state’s highest court Thursday to embrace measures, including tougher laws and changes in courtroom policy, to help erase the “appearance of leniency” in drunken driving cases decided by judges instead of juries.
Judges in some Massachusetts courts, particularly in Worcester County, acquit nearly all drunken driving defendants who waive their right to a jury trial, according to a yearlong study of the court system that recommends curbing “judge shopping.”
The study, commissioned by the Supreme Judicial Court last year following a Globe Spotlight series, recommended that defendants be required to choose a bench trial earlier in the process, instead of waiting until the last minute. Some defendants decide to waive their right to a jury trial on the day of the trial when a judge with a reputation for leniency appears on the bench
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