People v. Brooks

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder.Court erred by dismissing Defendant's postconviction petition at the 2nd stage. When determining what evidence is admissible at a 3rd-stage evidentiary hearing and how the trial court should evaluate that evidence using the same rules as to admissibility of evidence at sentencing hearings. Hearsay evidence is not per se inadmissible because it fails to meet the reliability criteria that would be required for admissibility at trial, and the trial court has discretion to accept, in 3rd-stage evidentiary hearings, to admit questionable evidence and then disregard it if it is unreliable.(KNECHT and DeARMOND, concurring.)