Martin Taylor, Defendant Below, Appellant v. State of Delaware, Plaintiff Below, Appellee.

Summary

The court vacated Taylor's convictions because counsel and the Superior Court improperly prevented him from withdrawing his guilty-but-mentally-ill plea before it was accepted. The court held that Taylor had the final authority to withdraw the unaccepted plea and that his objection during the acceptance hearing demonstrated that the plea was not voluntary. It also held that any statutory sequencing error was waived and did not constitute plain error. The opinion remanded for counsel to determine whether Taylor was competent to decide whether to withdraw the plea and, if so, to allow withdrawal if he insisted.