The PEOPLE v. Pridgen

In 1959 Charles Pridgen was charged in the circuit court of Cook County with the crime of burglary, was tried by the court and sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of 20 to 30 years. In May of 1963 the defendant filed a pro se petition seeking relief under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1961, chap. 38, par. 826, et seq.,) contending that his constitutional rights had been violated in that the facts alleged in his petition raised a bona fide doubt as to his sanity at the time of trial, that the said facts were known to the trial judge, and that he was entitled to a sanity…