Path: utzoo!telecom-request Date: Wed, 19 Jun 91 00:54:29 GMT From: Mark Eckenwiler Newsgroups: comp.dcom.telecom Subject: Re: What Len Rose and Al Capone Have in Common Message-ID: Organization: Dudley & Stephens, Maritime Caterers Sender: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu Approved: Telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Submissions-To: telecom@eecs.nwu.edu X-Administrivia-To: telecom-request@eecs.nwu.edu X-Telecom-Digest: Volume 11, Issue 469, Message 15 of 15 Lines: 30 Writing for the plurality in , Justice mnc@css.itd.umich.edu stated: > In Telecom Moderator (Patrick Townson) > writes: >> Neither the government or your attorney can ram a guilty >> plea down your throat >if you do not want to go along. Check out the >> Federal Court Rules of Procedure: > Have you ever been in a courtroom, Patrick? The only time the judge > goes through that rigamarole is when there's a court full of > reporters. I've sat through plenty of arraignments in my past life as > a reporter; never unless it was a media circus with full theatrics did > anyone make an issue of why the defendant was pleading guilty (aside > from the judge mumbling a single sentence reminding him or her that > the choice to plead guilty is a voluntary one). What PAT describes is Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. It is the *only* means by which a federal judge can take a guilty plea, and the allocution (colloquy between judge and defendant regarding factual basis for plea, etc.) must be made *on the record*. Absent compliance with Rule 11, no guilty plea in federal court will ever hold up on appeal. Period. Mark Eckenwiler eck@panix.com ...!cmcl2!panix!eck