Rounsaville v. Evatt

OPINION

FONES, Justice.

The issue in this post-conviction proceeding is whether it is fatal to the validity of a guilty plea for the trial judge to fail to advise a defendant, in open court, of the constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Defendant initiated this proceeding on 7 April 1984, seeking to set aside guilty pleas to eight charges of forgery and one of receiving stolen property, entered on 23 September 1981 in the same trial court. Defendant asserted that the failure of the trial judge to advise him of his constitutional right against self-incrimination rendered the convictions…