| Blanton v. North Las Vegas | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Supreme Court of the United States |
||||||
| Argued January 9, 1989 Decided March 6, 1989 |
||||||
| Full case name | Blanton et al. v. City of North Las Vegas, Nevada | |||||
| Prior history | Certiorari to the Supreme Court of Nevada. | |||||
| Subsequent history | 103 Nev. 623, 748 P.2d 494, affirmed. | |||||
| Holding | ||||||
| The right to a jury trial is not found in crimes where the maximum period of incarceration is under six months. | ||||||
| Court membership | ||||||
|
||||||
| Case opinions | ||||||
| Majority | Marshall, joined by unanimous | |||||
| Laws applied | ||||||
| U.S. Const. amend. VI | ||||||
Blanton v. North Las Vegas, 489 U.S. 538 (1989), was a decision issued by the United States Supreme Court clarifying the limitations of the Right to Trial by Jury.
Melvin R. Blanton was charged with Driving under the influence of alcohol. His petition for a jury trial was denied and he was instead given a bench trial. Blanton appealed, arguing that his sixth amendment right to trial by jury had been violated.
The US Supreme Court ruled that Blanton did not have the right to a jury trial because the crime he was charged with was "petty". The court went on to elaborate: "offenses for which the maximum period of incarceration is six months, or less, are presumptively petty...a defendant can overcome this, and become entitled to a jury trial,..by showing that additional penalties [such as monetary fines]...are...so severe [as to indicate] that the legislature clearly determined that the offense is a serious one."