Court Opinion

ID: 9727958
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:53:36.082648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:44.555716
License: Public Domain

GIVAN, Chief Justice,
dissenting.
I respectfully dissent from the majority opinion in this case. I do not agree that the trial judge made an erroneous statement in open court concerning the defendant’s right against self-incrimination. The majority points out that the plea agreement correctly informed the petitioner that he had a “right not to testify without prejudice . . *490whereas the trial judge informed the petitioner, “You waive the right to testify without prejudice.” I do not interpret this as being an incorrect statement against the right against self-incrimination. In addition to the necessity of advising a defendant that he has a right not to testify, as was done in this case, the judge may also advise the defendant that he has the right to testify in his own behalf, which he will be waiving in the event of a plea of guilty. This is merely what the trial judge was doing in this case, a fact which I can in no way construe as being an erroneous instruction against self-incrimination.
As far as the other supposed errors raised in the majority opinion, I feel the majority is placing a strained interpretation on the precise language of the trial judge’s admonitions to the defendant as compared to the precise language of the statute. When one reads the statute in its entirety and the trial judge’s instructions in their entirety, it is difficult to perceive how the appellant could possibly be misled as to any phase of the case. Even if we are to assume the appellant was an uneducated person, not readily capable of translating the judge’s language into the language of the statute, or vice versa, the record clearly shows that appellant was represented by competent counsel who specifically stated to the judge that he had explained all the matters which were being explained by the judge to the appellant. Certainly if competent counsel saw nothing to object to or add to at the hearing on the plea of guilty, he must have felt that the appellant was fully advised and fully understood the consequences of his plea.
Although a person charged with a crime should be afforded every protection of the constitutions of the United States and the State of Indiana and the statutes in implementation thereof, I do not feel that justice is served by placing such a strict and strained interpretation upon a trial judge’s forthright and lucid instructions on a plea of guilty.
I would therefore affirm the trial court.
PIVARNIK, J., concurs.