I hate judges who think I am too tough, and want to give probation to a POS who doesn't deserve it. In my prior incarnations, if a judge wanted to reject a plea bargain for time, they would let me withdraw my jury waiver. Question is - can I demand it? Yes, I mean felonies.

If the court refuses to adopt the State's punishment recommendation, it is the defendant who is given the option to withdraw his plea (and start over). Argubly the court should announce whether it will follow the recommendation before it anounces what it will do instead. But, in practice, everyone knows what will follow, namely a more lenient punishment than what the defendant was willing to accept. So long as at least the minimum is assessed, the State has still lost the option of demanding a jury trial, at least in that case. Some have suggested that the State may condition its consent to the defendant's waiver upon the court's acceptance of the recommendation.

Absent it being a 3g where the judge is going to grating a Deferred, what could the State gain by withdrawing a jury waiver? Seems to me you would just windup trying the case with a hostile judge and a defendant willing to throw the dice, no doubt having elected to go to the judge for punishment.

This issues has been discussed on this Forum before. For the link, click here.