People v. Cole

Defendant was convicted of 13 counts of first-degree murder, which were merged into an intentional-murder count. Defendant was sentenced to 28 years in prison and the appellate court affirmed his sentence on direct appeal. Defendant then filed a pro se post-conviction petition, which was summarily dismissed as frivolous and patently without merit. Defendant appealed, contending that his petition asserted an arguable claim that his conviction was void because the victim was murdered in Indiana and not in Illinois. The appellate court affirmed, finding that defendant’s criminal jurisdiction claim did not have an arguable basis in law or fact. (BURKE and D.B. WALKER, concurring)