People v. Black

A complaint was issued by the justice of the peace of Riverside township, in which the appellant was accused of the possession of intoxicating liquor. To this charge he entered a plea of guilty on July 5, 1927, and was sentenced to pay a fine of five hundred dollars or be imprisoned six months. The fine not being paid he was remanded to the custody of the sheriff. A petition for a writ of error coram nobis was filed by appellant in the superior court of Riverside County on July 25, 1927, in which he sought to vacate the judgment of the justice court on the ground, as alleged, that he had entered his plea through duress and fraud. He set forth in his petition that one William Rush, his employer, had induced him to enter the plea of guilty upon Rush’s assurance that only a light fine would be imposed, which Rush would pay. Upon his plea of guilty he made untrue statements to the court, in which he falsely exonerated Rush from responsibility in the matter of the possession of the liquor. The superior court made an order on October 8, 1927, denying the writ, and from this order petitioner appeals.

In his petition to the superior court appellant asks for a “writ of error coram nobis.”…