McCarthy v. United States
- Decided
- April 2, 1969
- Docket
- 43
- Status
- Published
- Jurisdiction
- Federal
Cited 3,200 timesSuperseded by statute (verified)Possible negative treatment: superseded by statute (2 of 16 verified; none is a verified overruling) · Timothy Cafferty v. State of Missouri
What later courts said
- holding that a guilty plea would be reversed automatically unless the trial court complied with Rule 11 — United States v. Wayne Doyce McWilliams (1984)
- holding that a factual-basis record on a guilty plea cannot be supplemented by a district court’s “assumptions” of facts — State v. Morris (2004)
- holding that, if a plea is not “voluntary and knowing, it has been obtained in violation of due process and is therefore void” — United States v. Rubio (2012)
Each line is a later court’s own words about this case, not a summary. Read the opinion before relying on it.
How the opinion begins
Mr. Chief Justice Warren delivered the opinion of the Court.
This case involves the procedure that must be followed under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure before a United States District Court may accept a guilty plea and the remedy for a failure to follow that procedure.
On April 1, 1966, petitioner was indicted on three counts in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois for violating § 7201 of the Internal Revenue Code. He was charged with “wilfully and knowingly” attempting to evade tax payments of $928.74 for 1959 (count 1), $5,143.70 for 1960 (count 2), and $1,207.12 for 1961 (count 3). At his arraignment [*461] two weeks later, petitioner, who was represented by retained counsel, pleaded not guilty to each count. The court scheduled his trial for June 30; but on June 29, it granted the Government’s motion to postpone the trial because of petitioner’s illness. The trial was rescheduled for July 15.
Cite this
McCarthy v. United States, 394 U.S. 459 (1969)Read the full opinion
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