Cite as: 526 U. S. 23 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
was simply one factor—in combination with the untimeliness of the Government's request and the lengthy proceedings and delay the defendant had already endured—that led the Court to conclude that it was "just under the circumstances" to accord the petitioner final relief at that time without further proceedings. Id., at 331-332. This limited and fact-specific conclusion does not support a general rule that a court's failure to advise a defendant of the right to appeal automatically requires resentencing to allow an appeal.
Petitioner and his amicus would distinguish Timmreck (and, presumably, Hill) on the ground that the defendant in Timmreck had the opportunity to raise his claim on direct appeal but failed to do so, whereas the absence of the "judicial warning [required by Rule 32(a)(2)] may effectively undermine the defendant's ability to take a direct appeal." Brief for Petitioner 20. This argument, however, provides no basis for holding that a Rule 32(a)(2) oversight, though nonprejudicial, automatically entitles the defendant to habeas relief. Even errors raised on direct appeal are subject to harmless-error review. Rule 52(a) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure prohibits federal courts from granting relief based on errors that "d[o] not affect substantial rights." See Rule 52(a) ("Any error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded"); see also Bank of Nova Scotia v. United States, 487 U. S. 250, 254-255 (1988) ("[A] federal court may not invoke supervisory power to circumvent the harmless-error inquiry prescribed by Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 52(a). . . . Rule 52 is, in every pertinent respect, as binding as any statute duly enacted by Congress, and federal courts have no more discretion to disregard the Rule's mandate than they do to disregard constitutional or statutory provisions").
Accordingly, we hold that petitioner is not entitled to habeas relief based on a Rule 32(a)(2) violation when he had independent knowledge of the right to appeal and so
29
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007