With one judge concurring in the result only, the court held that the trial court did not commit prejudicial error when, in connection with a plea, it misinformed the defendant of the maximum sentence. Pursuant to an agreement, the defendant pleaded guilty to trafficking in heroin and possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell. The trial court correctly informed the defendant of the maximum punishment for the trafficking charge but erroneously informed the defendant that the possession with intent charge carried a maximum punishment of 24 months (the correct maximum was 39 months). The trial court also told the defendant that he faced a total potential maximum punishment of 582 months, when the correct total was 597 months. Both errors were repeated on the transcript of plea form. The trial court accepted the defendant’s plea, consolidated the convictions and sentenced the defendant to 225 to 279 months. The defendant argued that the trial court violated G.S. 15A-1022(a)(6), providing that a trial court may not accept a guilty plea without informing the defendant of the maximum possible sentence for the charge. The court noted that decisions have rejected a ritualistic or strict approach to the statutory requirement and have required prejudice before a plea will be set aside. Here, the defendant cannot show prejudice. The court noted that the defendant faced no additional time of imprisonment because of the error; put another way, the trial court’s error did not affect the maximum punishment that the defendant received as a result of the plea. Furthermore, the defendant failed to argue how the result would have been different had he been correctly informed of the maximum punishment. The court stated: “It would be a miscarriage of justice for us to accept that Defendant would have backed out of his agreement if Defendant knew that the total potential maximum punishment was 15 months longer on a charge that was being consolidated into his trafficking conviction.”

[Author’s Note: The defendant does not appear to have made the constitutional argument that the plea was not knowing, voluntary and intelligent; constitutional errors are presumed to be prejudicial unless the State proves them to be harmless beyond a reasonable doubt.]