72
Opinion of the Court
C
A further reason to doubt that Congress could have intended Vonn's position is the tendency it would have to undercut the object of Rule 32(e), which governs withdrawing a plea of guilty by creating an incentive to file withdrawal motions before sentence, not afterward. A trial judge is authorized to grant such a presentence motion if the defendant carries the burden of showing a "fair and just reason" for withdrawal, and a defendant who fails to move for withdrawal before sentencing has no further recourse except "direct appeal or . . . motion under 28 U. S. C. 2255," subject to the rules covering those later stages. Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 32(e). Whatever the "fair and just" standard may require on presentence motions,9 the Advisory Committee Notes confirm the textual suggestion that the Rule creates a " 'near-presumption' " against granting motions filed after sentencing, Advisory Committee's Notes on 1983 Amendment to Fed. Rule Crim. Proc. 32, 18 U. S. C. App., p. 1621 (quoting United States v. Barker, 514 F. 2d 208, 219 (CADC 1975)). This is only good sense; in acting as an incentive to think through a guilty plea before sentence is imposed, the Rule tends to separate meritorious second thoughts (say, a defendant's doubts about his understanding) and mere sour grapes over a sentence once pronounced. The "near-presumption" concentrates plea litigation in the trial courts, where genuine mistakes can be corrected easily, and promotes the finality required in a system as heavily dependent on guilty pleas as ours.
9 The Courts of Appeals have held that a Rule 11 violation that is harmless under Rule 11(h) does not rise to the level of a "fair and just reason" for withdrawing a guilty plea. See United States v. Driver, 242 F. 3d 767, 769 (CA7 2001) ("Even an established violation of Rule 11 can be harmless error . . . and thus not a 'fair and just reason' to return to Square One"); United States v. Siegel, 102 F. 3d 477, 481 (CA11 1996); United States v. Martinez-Molina, 64 F. 3d 719, 734 (CA1 1995).
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