People v. Burt

The precise and only question presented by this appeal is whether the trial judge may accept a plea of guilty and thereafter, upon his own motion, vacate it and require the defendant to stand trial on a charge more serious than that to which he had previously entered the plea.

Defendant and two others were arraigned together under a single count information charging robbery armed.

The prosecutor moved to amend the information to include a count of robbery unarmed. The former charge carries a sentence of any number of years to life; the latter carries a fifteen-year maximum. The defendant…