People v. Soto

Consolidated appeals of trial court dismissal of defendants’ successive post-conviction petitions at the second stage of proceedings. The appellate court reversed and remanded for a third-stage evidentiary hearing on defendants’ claims of actual innocence and on their claim that trial counsel had a conflict of interest, finding that the affidavits submitted in support of the petitions “easily” created a question as to whether the new evidence placed the trial evidence in a different light and undermined the court’s confidence in the judgment of guilt because there was no evidence linking the defendants to the crime and the only witness who testified was “highly incentivized.” (McBRIDE and BURKE, concurring)