People v. Steward

Defendant, Steven Steward, filed a petition for postconviction relief on February 9, 2009, asserting his actual innocence. The trial court summarily dismissed defendant’s petition, finding that it was frivolous and patently without merit. In doing so, the court determined that although defendant was detained under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act (725 ILCS 207/1 (West 2008)), he was no longer imprisoned within the meaning of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (725 ILCS 5/122 — 1 et seq. (West 2008)) and therefore he lacked standing to seek relief. For the reasons set forth below, we…