People v. Balle

On October 3, 2005, defendant filed a second postconviction petition in which he alleged (1) that his trial counsel was ineffective for failing to obtain records from the psychiatric unit of the Cook County jail, which would have supported an insanity defense and a request for a fitness hearing; (2) that, in violation of Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215, 83 S. Ct. 1194 (1963), the State failed to turn over defendant’s mental health records from the Cook County jail; and (3) that his natural life sentence is void because he was not eligible to be sentenced pursuant to the…