Plaintiff filed postconviction petition alleging several constitutional violations occurring at his trial. Court appointed counsel for him, but he reluctantly sought to represent himself after extensive delay and upon postconviction counsel raising only 2 claims on his behalf. Court erred in denying Defendant his requested access to his trial counsel's file. As Defendant raised claims as to his trial counsel's strategic decisions, the work product doctrine does not bar him from access to trial counsel's file. Trial court should have adopted, as nearly as practicable, an open-file policy as to Defendant's access to his own trial counsel's case file, only narrowly limiting access to documents that were confidential when disclosed to trial counsel.(PUCINSKI, concurrring; MASON, dissenting.)
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Postconviction Petitions