Birmingham v. Evans

CATES, Presiding Judge

(concurring specially).

I concur in the result, but only because I think that the municipal court cannot afford a jury trial to a defendant because under Waller v. Florida, 397 U.S. 387, 90 S.Ct. 1184, 25 L.Ed.2d 435, a municipality cannot punish for an act which is also an offense against the State of Alabama.

Whether the punishment for a breach of an ordinance or by-law (not embracing a State misdemeanor) is serious enough to constitutionally warrant a jury trial would seem to depend on the schedule of punishments for different breaches,