Under both the expanded and restrictive views of Federal habeas corpus, there is a Federal interest in improving State trial court procedures. Under the expanded view, the Federal interest is in limiting the number of cases in which Federal courts have to overrule the State court for failure to apply Federal constitutional requirements properly. Under the restrictive view, the Federal interest is in ensuring that State court procedures prevent the State prisoner from being able to raise constitutional issues in Federal court. Difficulties that impede the development of State trail court procedures to achieve either objective are the trial judge's lack of relevant information, ritualized procedures that do not achieve court objectives, and the difficulty of making a record adequate to preclude subsequent access to Federal habeas corpus. This article illustrates the difficulties of devising a procedure that will enable the trial judge to ensure a defendant has made an informed decision, of allocating responsibility between the judge and defense counsel to ensure a defendant has made an informed decision, and of developing adequate procedures where it is unclear whether defense counsel or the defendant should make the decision. 30 footnotes.