People v. Allen
Annotate this CaseAllen was convicted of murder and armed robbery for the 1984 shooting death of Ciralski. In 2009, Allen filed a pro se post-conviction petition, alleging actual innocence and raising constitutional issues related to his claim of innocence, chiefly that the state suborned perjury and coerced confessions. He attached to his petition an unnotarized statement, styled as an affidavit. The statement indicated its writer was Langford, and the author took responsibility for Ciralski’s murder, stating that Allen had no involvement. The circuit court of Cook County dismissed the petition, finding it frivolous and patently without merit. The appellate court affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed, noting that the Langford statement contained elements consistent with the testimony at trial and the overall defense theory of the case. The statement, while subject to challenge at the second stage for lack of notarization, qualifies as other evidence for first-stage post-conviction review, where dismissal is appropriate only if “the petition has no arguable basis either in law or in fact.” The circuit court’s alternative reasons to dismiss the post-conviction petition constituted greater scrutiny than the first stage involves. The court remanded for second-stage proceedings.
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