People v. Jakes

Defendant was convicted of murder, based largely on confession he signed, at age 15, after twelve hours of questioning by detectives. Defendant claimed that he signed confession because detective beat him, while other detective watched, and threatened him; jury did not hear evidence that these detectives had beaten and threatened suspects in other cases to obtain signed confessions, and that they committed perjury to convince juries to rely on confessions. Postconviction petition included detail about alleged official misconduct, and court abused discretion in denying motion for discovery related to petition. Remanded for evidentiary hearing at which defense has access to evidence as to detectives' credibility.(HYMAN and MASON, concurring.)