Advantages of Bench Trials
Recently an executive facing fraud charges waived his right to a jury trial and opted for a bench trial. He reasoned with a Chicago law firm that with the recent public sentiment against white-collar executives as backlash for the Enron and many other corporate scandals of the recent past that he would fare better in a bench trial and he was right. The judge found the executive not guilty of all charges. It's not likely a jury would have reached the same verdict. So there's a good example of when a bench trial is preferable to a jury trial. In a bench trial, the judge is responsible for drawing conclusions from the facts and rendering a verdict of either guilty or not guilty.
