State v. Williams

BRASWELL, Judge.

What is error? Does the failure to scrupulously follow statutory procedure when taking a guilty plea automatically entitle the defendant to a new trial or other relief? Can a plea of guilty be tied down in a box that is secured with only one color of cord? When is error to be deemed prejudicial and reversible or harmless and upheld?

In his book “The Judicial Process” Judge Ruggero J. Aldisert commented that “[a] reviewing court’s function is to determine whether a trial court committed error of sufficient magnitude to require that its judgment be reversed or vacated.” R.…