People v. Sanders

Summary

The court held that a trial court may sua sponte consider whether to allow a successive postconviction petition to proceed, even when the petitioner did not request leave. It nevertheless affirmed dismissal because the recantation and affidavit, even taken as true and considered together, were not sufficiently conclusive to make it more likely than not that no reasonable juror would convict. The court also held that credibility determinations from a codefendant’s related proceeding and materials outside the petitioner’s own case record may not be used at the second stage.