People v. Franklin

The defendant, William Franklin, was found guilty of theft by deception in a Peoria County jury trial and sentenced to a term of 1½ to 4½ years’ imprisonment. The appellate court reversed the judgment and remanded the cause for a new trial on the grounds that defendant was denied his right to effective assistance of counsel because the court-appointed assistant public defender who represented him at trial had, as an assistant State’s Attorney, successfully prosecuted the defendant on an unrelated matter 4½ years earlier. (60 Ill. App. 3d 905.) We granted the State’s petition for leave to…