People v. Stewart

¶ 1 Defendant, Joe Lee Stewart, appeals the trial court's order granting the State's motion to dismiss his section 2-1401 petition. Specifically, defendant argues that the court erred in considering the petition as a successive postconviction petition without informing defendant. We vacate the court's order dismissing defendant's petition and remand the matter with directions that the court admonish defendant regarding its recharacterization of the petition.

¶ 2 FACTS

¶ 3 Defendant was convicted of first degree murder ( 720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1) (West 2004) ) for causing the death of Leon Riley. The…