Court Opinion

ID: 9474470
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 04:57:48.043634+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:44:05.915103
License: Public Domain

SNEED, Circuit Judge,
concurring separately:
I concur in Judge Nelson’s opinion. I do this while harboring the belief that the appellant has represented himself in this prosecution considerably better than he would have been served by most attorneys. That belief provides no basis for affirmance, however.
Rule 11 imposes upon trial courts fairly precise formal requirements designed to reduce the opportunities for misunderstanding on the part of the defendant or the court. The price that must be paid for this benefit is an occasional reversal solely on the basis of failure to conform to the formalities. This is the usual price that must be paid if formalities are to be taken seriously, as in the instance of Rule 11 they should be. Not to pay the price leads to forfeiture of the benefits that the formalities were intended to achieve.
Formalism in the last century or so has had harsher critics than it deserved. It is reassuring to see its beneficent aspects be recognized in a setting in which that recognition is bolstered by our more honored concern for those accused of crime.