Court Opinion

ID: 9834838
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-02 01:55:05.572161+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:44:54.937912
License: Public Domain

NAHMIAS, Justice,
dissenting.
Rather than relying on this Court’s more recent precedents, I would follow our earlier holding in Goodman v. Davis, 249 Ga. 11, 14 (287 SE2d 26) (1982), and the similar approach taken almost uniformly by federal and state appellate courts across the country, see, e.g., United States v. Stewart, 977 F2d 81, 84-85 (3d Cir. 1992); People v. Howard, 824 P2d 1315, 1341-1342 (Cal. 1992). I would hold that the trial court’s failure to ensure that Lejeune understood his right against self-incrimination at trial before he entered his guilty plea was harmless error because the record as a whole shows that his plea was knowing and voluntary under the totality of the circumstances and therefore constitutionally valid. Accordingly, I dissent.
I am authorized to state that Justices Melton and Blackwell join in this dissent.