The jurors are the fact finders (if it's a jury trial). They don't need to know the law, it will be explained to them by the judge. In a bench trial, the judg

The jurors are the fact finders (if it's a jury trial). They don't need to know the law, it will be explained to them by the judge. In a bench trial, the judge is both the fact finder and the law interpreter. The argument in favor of non-lawyer judges is that for misdemeanor cases the facts dominate the law, ie whom do you believe, not what's larceny or drug dealing.