The People v. Mendoza

On October 27, 1967, Alexander Mendoza pleaded guilty in the circuit court of Cook County to charges of automobile theft, armed robbery and unlawful use of a weapon. He was sentenced to concurrent terms in the penitentiary of from one to five years on the unlawful-use-of-weapon indictment and from three to five years each on the theft and robbery indictments. The trial court granted the State’s motion to nol-pros a fourth indictment charging aggravated battery.

On April 17, 1969, defendant filed a post-conviction petition under the terms of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill. Rev. Stat.…