The PEOPLE v. Smith

The appellant, Hobart K. Smith, on November 20, 1963, was found guilty of murder of his wife’s paramour following a jury trial and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of not less than 20 nor more than 36 years. Acting pro se, he filed a petition on February 23, 1968, for a writ of error coram nobis, in the circuit court of Rock Island County. He later filed a petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 38, par. 122 — 1 et seq.) and one for a writ of habeas corpus. The three petitions alleged that the appellant had been denied his constitutional right to a…