People v. Berland

Defendants, Louis Wolf and Albert Berland, were convicted of arson with intent to defraud an insurer (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 38, par. 20—1(b)) after a joint bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County. Both were sentenced to terms of 114 to 414 years in the Illinois State Penitentiary and fined $10,000. The appellate court reversed the convictions on two grounds: that the single, retained counsel could not effectively represent the conflicting interests of the two defendants and that there was insufficient evidence of guilt to sustain the convictions. (52 Ill. App. 3d 96.) We granted…