Stephens v. State

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama

Decided September 30, 1994

Court of Criminal Appeals of Alabama · decided 1994-09-30

Cited by 2 later decisions — most recently May 2006

2 state decisions

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1994-09-30

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McMILLAN, Judge.

¶1AFFIRMED. NO OPINION.

All Judges concur except TAYLOR, J., dissents with opinion.TAYLOR, Judge

¶2(dissenting).

¶3I respectfully dissent from the majority’s holding in its unpublished memorandum that the failure of the court to indicate its satisfaction that a factual basis for the plea existed before accepting the appellant’s plea was harmless error under Rule 45, Ala.R.App.P. The harmless error analysis is not appropriate here. Rule 14.4, Ala.R.Crim.P., requires that the court be satisfied that there is a factual basis for the plea before accepting a guilty plea. The potential for injury in abrogating this requirement is both obvious and implicit.