Matter of Lyons v. Goldstein

On April 17, 1936, the present intervener-appellant appeared in the Court of General Sessions of New York County where he entered a plea of guilty to a charge of burglary in the third degree. Thereupon, as a fourth offender, he received the mandatory sentence of fifteen years to life in a State prison. On July 25, 1941, when he had served more than five years of that sentence he applied at the Court of General Sessions for leave to withdraw his plea made in 1936 of guilty to the charge then made against him and for permission to substitute a plea of not guilty. The ground of his application…