State v. Bentley, 2022 Ohio 1099

Brian Bentley was charged in municipal court with aggravated trespass (M1) and assault (M1) following an altercation; each misdemeanor carried up to six months incarceration.
Bentley pleaded not guilty and timely filed a written demand for a jury trial on December 14, 2020.
Case was set for jury trial but later proceeded as a bench trial on May 10 and June 2, 2021; testimony conflicted on who struck first (Bentley claimed self-defense).
The trial court found Bentley not guilty of aggravated trespass but guilty of assault and sentenced him to 180 days (90 on house arrest); sentence stayed pending appeal.
On appeal, the Eleventh District held the record contained no written waiver of the jury right as required by R.C. 2945.05, so the court lacked jurisdiction to try Bentley without a jury; conviction reversed and remanded for a new trial.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether Bentley waived his Crim.R. 23(A)/R.C. 2945.05 right to a jury trial	State implicitly treated bench trial as proper; no explicit argument preserved in opinion	Bentley argued he never waived the jury right in writing and had timely demanded a jury	Court held Bentley did not waive in writing; absence of written waiver deprived court of jurisdiction to hold bench trial — conviction reversed and remanded
Whether the assault conviction was against the manifest weight of the evidence	State argued evidence supported conviction	Bentley argued he acted in self-defense	Moot on appeal because conviction reversed on procedural grounds

State v. Pless, 658 N.E.2d 766 (Ohio 1996) (requires written waiver under R.C. 2945.05 before trying a petty-offense defendant without a jury)
State v. Tate, 391 N.E.2d 738 (Ohio 1979) (same principle: trial court lacks jurisdiction absent written jury waiver)
State v. Reese, 831 N.E.2d 983 (Ohio 2005) (reiterates strict compliance requirement for written jury-waiver to permit bench trial)