In United States v. Laney, --- F.3d ---, No. 15-10563 (9th Cir. 2018), the defendants did not personally sign the jury waiver, prior to trial. As a result, the Ninth Circuit vacated their convictions.
The Court held, "that the proper practice under Rule 23(a) is
for the defendant to personally execute the written waiver; a
written stipulation signed by defense counsel alone—like the
stipulations at issue in this case—will not raise a
presumption of validity."
The Court clarified, however, "the absence of a defendant’s signature will not constitute reversible error if
the record otherwise shows that the defendant’s waiver was
voluntary, knowing, and intelligent."
But becuase the record did not satisfy that standard, and because an invalid jury waiver is structural error, the Court sent the case back for a new trial.
