People v. Boclair
Case Date: 12/31/1969
Court: Supreme Court
Docket No: 89388, 89471,
89534 cons. Rel
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Docket Nos. 89388, 89471, 89534 cons.-Agenda 7-May 2001. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellee, v. Opinion filed August 29, 2002. JUSTICE KILBRIDE delivered the opinion of the court: The defendants in these three consolidated cases, Stanley Boclair, Joe McCain, and Earnest Johnson, were separately convicted of various unrelated crimes and are currently incarcerated. Their convictions were affirmed on direct review. Subsequently, each defendant filed a petition for post-conviction relief. The circuit court summarily dismissed each post-conviction petition. All three defendants appealed. In Boclair, 312 Ill. App. 3d 346, the Fourth District affirmed the dismissal. In McCain, 312 Ill. App. 3d 529, the Fifth District reversed and held that the circuit court should not dismiss a petition as untimely or on waiver or res judicata grounds at the first stage of a post-conviction proceeding. Similarly, in Johnson, 312 Ill. App. 3d 532, the Fifth District reversed and held that the circuit court should not dismiss a petition as untimely without first providing the State with an opportunity to waive the procedural defect. We granted leave to appeal primarily to determine whether the circuit court can summarily dismiss a defendant's post-conviction petition at the first stage of post-conviction proceedings as untimely. Additionally, we consider whether section 122-1(c) of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Act) (725 ILCS 5/122-1(c) (West 1998)) is unconstitutionally vague and whether Public Act 83-942, eff. November 23, 1983, violates the single subject clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970, art. IV, |