Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 52

RULE 52. HARMLESS ERROR AND PLAIN ERROR

(a) Harmless Error. No judgment of conviction shall be reversed on appeal except for errors which affirmatively appear to have affected the result of the trial on the merits.

(b) Plain Error. An error which has affected the substantial rights of an accused may be noticed at any time, even though not raised in the motion for a new trial or assigned as error on appeal, in the discretion of the appellate court where necessary to do substantial justice.

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Committee Comment

This rule follows present law. T.C.A. §§27-116 and 27-117 deal with error not going to the merits and not affecting trial results. Plain error may, not must, be noticed by the appellate court, even where substantial justice is involved.

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