People v. Hannigan

Although it is the general rule that coram nobis will not lie to correct errors appearing on the face of the record (People v. Sullivan, 3 N Y 2d 196), this court recognized an exception in a case where the trial court denied to a defendant his right to counsel of his own choice (People v. Silverman, 3 N Y 2d 200, 202). Thus we wrote in the Silverman case: “ Judicial interference with the right to counsel guaranteed to defendant by law may warrant the extraordinary remedy of coram nobis, even though the error appears on the face of the record ” (p. 202).

If the petitioner in this case was, as…