Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Ineffective Assistance of Counsel
Defendant was convicted of 1st-degree murder of 6-year-old boy while he slept; intended target was boy's uncle, a member of a rival gang. Defendant showed that, by failing to present his nonfrivolous claims, his Krankel counsel provided deficient representation. Defendant showed that by rejecting those nonfrivolous claims and arguing adversely to his interests, his Krankel counsel failed to subject trial counsel's conduct to any meaningful adversarial testing and thus effectively deprived him of counsel during a critical stage of proceedings. Trial court is directed to appoint a different attorney for Defendant, and then hold an appropriate adversarial second-stage Krankel hearing on those claims. (HUTCHINSON and SPENCE, concurring.)