People v. Ponitz

Judicial pressure by the use of coercive means, causing a change from his plea of not guilty to one of guilty, is the reason given by defendant for instituting this coram nobis motion.

According to defendant, who was the sole witness for himself at the hearing, this incident took place on May 10, 1910, at the time of his arraignment to answer the indictment charging him with grand larceny. His version is that the sentencing Judge *326had then admonished him that, using defendant’s own language, “he don’t tolerate thieves. He says if the Court — if I go to trial and the Court finds me guilty, I…