Cross

Discussion.

DISCUSSION

I. Advisements and Waivers Were Not Necessary to Effect Stipulation

Before trial, the prosecutor successfully moved to admit defendant’s prior acts of domestic violence against the victim, including the August 2009 incident that resulted in his conviction in case No. 09F06395. At trial, the prosecutor submitted a stipulation with the defense, which recited that defendant had been convicted in January 2010 for an incident of domestic violence in August 2009 with the same victim as the current offense. The court later instructed the jury that it must accept the facts in a stipulation as true, and that the People had the burden of proving a prior conviction for domestic violence beyond a reasonable doubt (but reminding the jury that the fact of the prior conviction had been the subject of a stipulation). Defendant argues on appeal that before accepting the stipulation, the trial court should have advised him of his fundamental trial rights and solicited his waiver of them.

Because courts will not presume on a silent record that a defendant pleading guilty—an act that constitutes a conviction of itself—knowingly and intelligently waived the right to a jury,…