People v. Russo

The defendant, Frank Russo, was tried by jury in the criminal court of Cook County in 1934 and convicted of the crime of robbery. In 1961 he filed a motion in the trial court asking that the judgment of conviction be vacated. The motion, was denied without a hearing and the defendant has appealed to this court.

The motion to vacate the judgment alleged that at the time of defendant’s conviction he was 19 years of age and was inexperienced in the law and unaware of his constitutional rights to counsel of his own choice. It was further alleged that prior to the conviction an attorney had been…