People v. Griffin

This case presents question as to whether trial court properly denied defendant’s request to file successive post-conviction petition that alleged claim of actual innocence that was supported by three affidavits. Appellate Court, in reversing trial court, found that at leave to file stage of case defendant could pursue actual innocence claim under Robinson, 2020 IL 123849, and that defendant presented colorable claim of actual innocence. In its petition for leave to appeal, State argued that because defendant had pleaded guilty to charged offense, Appellate Court applied wrong standard for evaluating actual innocence claims, where heightened standard set forth in Reed, 2020 IL 124910 applied to circumstances of this case.