Jong Whan Kim v. United States
JusticiabilityDoctri
Is it error for a district court to rely on a defendant's pre-hearing review of the indictment to inform him of the nature of the offense?
QUESTION PRESENTED Rule 11(b)(1)(G) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure requires that, during a plea hearing, before a district court accepts a plea of guilty, it must first “nform the defendant of, and determine that the defendant understands .. . the nature of each charge to which [he] is pleading.” The question presented, on which the circuits are deeply divided—with at least four on one side and five on the other— is: Is it error for a district court to rely on a defendant’s pre-hearing review of the indictment to inform him of the nature of the offense? i