People v. Rial

I agree that the statute1 and court rule2 governing acceptance of an accused person’s plea of guilty to an information charging commission of a criminal offense do not prescribe the advice the judge should give a probationer before accepting a plea of guilty to a charge of probation violation.3

In these consolidated cases, the judges advised each of the defendants of their right to counsel4 and of the nature of the charge. They both waived counsel and pled guilty.

I write separately to speak to the need for promulgation of rules of procedure concerning probation violation proceedings and to…