Opinion ID: 1863023
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Availability of error patent review of La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1 violations

Text: In State v. Stiles, defendant Stiles appealed his conviction and sentence assigning as error only that his sentence was excessive. The Second Circuit noted as part of its error patent review that the trial court failed to comply with La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1, but that the error was harmless. The dissenting judge, on original hearing, expressed his view that the error was reversible. It was only on application for rehearing that the defendant argued that the trial judge's failure to advise him of the minimum sentence for aggravated incest constituted reversible error. Article 920 of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides that the following matters and no others shall be considered on appeal: (1) An error designated in the assignment of errors; and (2) An error that is discoverable by a mere inspection of the pleadings and proceedings and without inspection of the evidence. La. C.Cr.P. art. 920. We find that an error in the plea colloquy required by La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1 is not an error that is discoverable by a mere inspection of the pleadings and proceedings. Thus, whether a trial court complied with La.C.Cr.P. art. 556.1 is not subject to error patent review but must instead be designated as an assignment of error by the defendant on appeal. See State v. Campbell, 404 So.2d 1205, 1208 (La.1981). In so holding, we now overrule our previous decision in State v. Godejohn, 425 So.2d 750, 751 (La.1983) (followed in State v. Browning, 483 So.2d 1008 (La.1986)), wherein this Court held a review of the plea colloquy for errors is subject to error patent review. [2] Accordingly, because deficiencies in the plea colloquy required by La.C.Cr.P. art 556.1 are not subject to error patent review, the court of appeal erred in considering this issue in its error patent review and we will not consider this issue as it applies to defendant Stiles. Defendant Stiles' remedy is now by application for post-conviction relief which must be addressed to the district court for the parish in which he was convicted. [3]