People v. Zilliner (19 A.D.2d 806, 1963)

Order, entered on January 17, 1962, denying, without a hearing, application of defendant for a writ of error coram nobis to vacate a judgment rendered October 18, 1960, convicting appellant upon his plea of guilty to an indictment charging robbery in the first degree, unanimously reversed on the law and the facts, and the matter remanded for a hearing. The conviction upon such indictment was to cover the same as well as two other felony indictments. The robbery indictment pleaded to and one of the other indictments arose out of an incident involving the alleged assault and robbery of a correction officer connected with the Bronx City Prison while the defendant and two certain other inmates were attempting to escape from the prison. The defendant in his affidavit alleges that he was induced to plead guilty by reason of the alleged fraudulent threatening and coercive statements of the District Attorney that if he did not so plead, he would be brought to trial and convicted not only upon the robbery indictment but also upon the other indictments and that upon such conviction the defendant “ would be sentenced to a maximum sentence of life imprisonment as a fourth (4) felony offender” [which in fact and law could not be]; that the fellow officers of the particular correction officer who “was pressing the charges would do every thing possible to bring about defendant’s conviction ”; and that the defendant then believed “ that