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MAY 16, 2000

SUPREME COURT OF LOUISIANA
No. 99-KK-1528 STATE OF LOUISIANA VERSUS FERNANDO GUZMAN ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, SECOND CIRCUIT, PARISH OF CADDO Consolidated with No. 99-K-1753 STATE OF LOUISIANA VERSUS JERRY LYNN STILES ON WRIT OF CERTIORARI TO THE COURT OF APPEAL, SECOND CIRCUIT, PARISH OF BOSSIER VICTORY, J.* We granted and consolidated these writ applications to consider the effect of a trial court's failure to comply with certain requirements for taking a guilty plea found in Louisiana Code of Criminal Procedure article 556.1. After reviewing the records and the applicable law, we find that the failure to inform a defendant of the mandatory minimum sentence provided by law and of the penalties for subsequent offenses is subject to the harmless error rule. In State v. Guzman, we find that the error was harmless and reverse the court of appeal's ruling. In State v. Stiles, because defendant Stiles did not raise this error as an assignment of error in the court of appeal, we find that the court of appeal erred in considering this issue in its error patent
*

Johnson, J., not on panel. Rule IV, Part 2,

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Louisiana Law