People v. Tate

Summary

The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the appellate court's affirmance of the circuit court's first-stage summary dismissal of Douglas Tate's postconviction petition, which alleged trial counsel was ineffective for failing to call two alibi witnesses and two occurrence witnesses and separately alleged actual innocence. The court held that a petition prepared by privately retained counsel is held to the same low 'frivolous or patently without merit' threshold as a pro se petition, not to the second-stage 'substantial showing of a constitutional violation' standard. It further held the ineffective-assistance claims were not forfeited despite their absence from the posttrial motion, because they concern what counsel ought to have done and the supporting affidavits could not have been in the record. Concluding the affidavits met the 'arguable' Strickland test — particularly Hebron's account contradicting the State's four eyewitnesses — the court remanded for second-stage proceedings and declined to reach the actual-innocence claim.