People v. Barnslater

Defendant, Wayne Barnslater, appeals from the circuit court’s grant of the State’s motion to dismiss his postconviction petition at the second stage of postconviction review. On appeal, he contends that he made the necessary substantial showing of a freestanding claim of actual innocence of the aggravated criminal sexual assault to which he pled guilty so as to preclude his petition’s dismissal. He further argues that the circuit court erred in rejecting his petition’s challenge to the voluntariness of his plea, even if res judicata applied, since fundamental fairness would mandate the…