Frank Abel and John G. Grimes v. Harry C. Tinsley, Warden, Colorado State Penitentiary

BREITENSTEIN, Circuit Judge.

The trial court denied without hearing appellants’ motion in the nature of coram nobis. Previously appellants, prisoners in the Colorado penitentiary under a state conviction, had been denied habeas corpus relief and this court had affirmed. 1 The motion asserts that the denial of habeas relief was procured by fraud.

Coram nobis is not an available remedy. Coram nobis is a step in the criminal case 2 and is used to correct fundamental errors which render the proceeding irregular and invalid. 3 Habeas corpus is a civil proceeding. 4 The use of coram nobis in civil…