Judges must ensure defendants fully understand the consequences of
their guilty pleas. Boykin v. Alabama requires judges to use "the utmost
solicitude of which courts are capable in canvassing the matter with the
accused." And judges must make the record show the defendant's plea
was knowing. Here, the defendant initialed several contradictory
statements in his plea papers. Did the judge err in accepting the
defendant's guilty plea without asking him about the contradictory
statements?

Did the judge err in accepting the defendant's guilty plea without asking him about the contradictory statements?