People v. Myers

Defendant was found guilty of armed robbery and aggravated battery and his conviction was affirmed on direct appeal. Defendant filed a post-conviction petition arguing that he was denied the effective assistance of counsel. The trial court denied the petition at the first stage and defendant appealed. The appellate court reversed and remanded, finding that defendant’s petition met the low threshold required to allege a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the first stage based on counsel’s failure to move to exclude out-of-court witness statements and failure to object to the use of those statements of substantive evidence of the defendant’s guilt. (HOWSE and COBBS, concurring)