State v. Neal

OPINION

WILLIAM S. RUSSELL, Special Justice.

This appeal presents the issue of whether or not the failure of a trial judge to articulate to a guilty-pleading defendant the full litany of rights mandated to be given in such a proceeding ipso facto renders a resulting judgment of conviction void; and, if not, what test of validity is applied. We hold that such a judgment is not necessarily void, and is subject to scrutiny under the harmless error doctrine, to ascertain whether or not the guilty plea was in fact voluntary and made with adequate knowledge by the accused of the rights being given up…