NC Official Urges Voters To Study Amendment

North Carolina's Secretary of State wants voters to learn more about a constitutional amendment on next week's ballot. Secretary Elaine Marshall says the amendment would give criminal defendants another option to a jury trial.

The proposed constitutional amendment would allow people charged with a felony to decide if they want a judge or a jury to hear their case. Under current state law, a criminal defendant in a felony case must have a jury trial. But under the proposal, defendants could waive that right. Such a waiver would require the consent of the trial judge and would not be allowed in a death penalty case.

Secretary Marshall says proposed constitutional amendments rarely receive media attention. The amendment would put North Carolina in line with 49 other states.