People v. Johnson

In 2005, defendant was convicted of first-degree murder. The appellate court affirmed. Defendant neither appealed nor sought certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court. In August 2008, defendant filed a pro se post-conviction petition. He asserted the petition’s due date as March 11, 2008, reasoning that he would have had until June 11, 2007 to appeal to the Illinois Supreme Court and until September 11, 2007, to seek certiorari. An affidavit from inmate Askew, a “freelance paralegal,” indicated that defendant was unable to obtain the record until March 19, 2008; after that, timely completion of the petition was prevented by prison lockdowns from March 25 through April 18, and on April 24 and May 15, 2008. The trial court dismissed the petition as untimely; the appellate court reversed. On remand, defendant testified that sometime in 2007, he received notice that his conviction had been affirmed, but was unsure how to proceed. In January 2008 he was approached by Askew, who told him to request transcripts. Defendant stated that he never knew what the deadline was. The judge granted the motion to file the petition late. The case was reassigned. The second judge dismissed defendant’s petition as untimely, also finding that defendant’s claims had no merit. The appellate court affirmed, holding that the second judge had authority to reconsider the prior order. The Illinois Supreme Court affirmed, stating that a court in a criminal case has inherent power to reconsider and correct its rulings. While literal reading of the statute does not specifically include a deadline for filing a post-conviction petition when no petition for leave to appeal is filed, the correct reading of the statute indicates that the post-conviction petition was due on December 11, 2007, before any of the cited hardships. View "People v. Johnson" on Justia Law