People v. Johnson

In this case, a prisoner filed a belated postconviction petition claiming that the criminal justice system failed to administer justice. He claimed that newly discovered evidence could establish his actual innocence. The trial judge did not rule upon the potential merits of the actual-innocence claim. He summarily dismissed the claim because the petition was clearly beyond the statutory time limitation within which postconviction petitions are permitted to be filed. See 725 ILCS 5/122 — 1 (West 1996).

The prisoner appeals from the summary order of dismissal.

In part because so many prisoners…