62
Opinion of the Court
official record to see whether a defendant's substantial rights were affected by a deviation from Rule 11.5 We think the Court of Appeals was mistaken on each issue, and vacate and remand.
II
Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires a judge to address a defendant about to enter a plea of guilty, to ensure that he understands the law of his crime in relation to the facts of his case, as well as his rights as a criminal defendant. The Rule has evolved over the course of 30 years from general scheme to detailed plan, which now includes a provision for dealing with a slip-up by the judge in applying the Rule itself. Subsection (h) reads that "[a]ny variance from the procedures required by this rule which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded." The language comes close to tracking the text of Rule 52(a), providing generally for "harmless-error" review, that is, consideration of error raised by a defendant's timely objection, but subject to an opportunity on the Government's part to carry the burden of showing that any error was harmless, as having no effect on the defendant's substantial rights. See Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 52(a) ("Any error, defect, irregularity or variance which does not affect substantial rights shall be disregarded"); United States v. Olano, 507 U. S. 725, 734 (1993).
Rule 52(a), however, has a companion in Rule 52(b), a "plain-error" rule covering issues not raised before the district court in a timely way: "Plain errors or defects affecting substantial rights may be noticed although they were not brought to the attention of the court." When an appellate court considers error that qualifies as plain, the tables are turned on demonstrating the substantiality of any effect on
5 Compare, e. g., 224 F. 3d, at 1155, with United States v. Parkins, 25 F. 3d 114, 118 (CA2 1994); United States v. Johnson, 1 F. 3d 296, 302 (CA5 1993); United States v. Lovett, 844 F. 2d 487, 492 (CA7 1988); United States v. Jones, 143 F. 3d 1417, 1420 (CA11 1998); and Lyons, supra, at 1322-1323.
Page: Index Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007