Page:United States Reports, Volume 542.djvu/113

74 OCTOBER TERM, 2003 Syllabus

No. 03–167.

(a) When a defendant is dilatory in raising Rule 11 error, reversal is unwarranted unless the error is plain. United States v. Vonn,, 63. Except for certain structural errors undermining the criminal proceeding's fairness as a whole, relief for error is tied to prejudicial effect, and the standard phrased as "error that affects substantial rights," as used in Rule 52, means error with a prejudicial effect on a judicial proceeding's outcome. See Kotteakos v. United States,. Kotteakos held that to affect "substantial rights," an error must have "substantial and injurious effect or inﬂuence in determining