(Download) "People v. Echols" by Supreme Court of Illinois ~ eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: People v. Echols
- Author : Supreme Court of Illinois
- Release Date : January 04, 1978
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 61 KB
Description
The appellant, Johnny Wilson, was convicted of one count of burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 19-1) in the circuit court of Macon County. A majority of the Appellate Court, Fourth District, affirmed (48 Ill. App.3d 885), holding, inter alia, that appellant had not been denied the effective assistance of counsel as a result of his having been represented at trial by the same attorney who represented appellant's two co-defendants in the joint trial of the three. We granted appellant's petition for leave to appeal on that issue, and we now reverse. On June 11, 1974, a grand jury indicted appellant, along with Kenneth Echols, William Echols, Thomas Ferguson, and Gregory Van Cook, for burglary and attempted burglary in connection with a June 5, 1974, incident at Valley's Tavern in Decatur. (The State subsequently nol-prossed the charge of attempted burglary.) At a preliminary hearing held on June 21, 1974, the court appointed the public defender to represent all of the defendants except appellant, who evidently indicated that he intended to retain counsel. The court did, however, appoint the public defender to represent appellant for purposes of the preliminary hearing. On July 5, 1974, at a subsequent hearing, the court sought to determine who was representing the appellant. From the ensuing colloquy, it appears that the attorney whom appellant had intended to retain was named Birk, an assistant public defender, who had represented appellant on a prior misdemeanor charge: