People v. Nichols

In a 1952 Rock Island County circuit court bench trial petitioner, Ralph Nicholls, also known as Ernest Ralph Beasley, was found guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to a term of 50 to 60 years imprisonment.

Petitioner’s pro se petition under the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill.Rev.Stat. 1963, ch. 38, par. 826 et seq.) was dismissed in 1963 on the grounds that the statute of limitations had expired in 1957. While appointment of counsel had been requested in that petition, counsel had not been appointed. No appeal was taken from that dismissal although there is some intimation in the petition…