These are the basic functions of trial counsel in our adversary system of justice and underlie the rationale of the contemporaneous objection rule which has so often been observed by our Court as a salutary requirement for the orderly administration of justice. Ross v. Colo. Natl. Bank, 170 Colo. 436, 463 P.2d 882; Cruz v. People, 166 Colo. 168, 442 P.2d 416; Lucero v.People, 158 Colo. 568, 409 P.2d 278; Scheer v. Cromwell, 158 Colo. 427, 407 P.2d 344. It is by the operation of this rule that the trial judge is alerted to evidentiary irregularities and enabled to control the trial proceedings, thereby avoiding obvious prejudicial error, reversals on appeal, and costly retrials.
Here, Thurman's statement implicated only himself in the Furr's robbery and did not mention or specifically implicate defendant. See Cruz v. People, 166 Colo. 168, 442 P.2d 416 (1968). Thus, defendant's substantial rights were not affected by the admission of this statement into evidence, and no reversible error occurred.