People v. Ertel

The defendant was convicted of murder in the first degree. He entered into a conspiracy with six others to rob the patrons of a restaurant situated on the second floor of the premises 144 Second avenue, Manhattan, New York city. They selected those premises because other robbers had obtained $3,500 in a hold up there only two weeks before. The defendant was one of three who were to “ hold the guns.”

Shortly after three o’clock on the morning of April 10, 1937, the door leading into the restaurant from the hall was suddenly opened and Guariglia and Friedman, two of the other conspirators,…