The PEOPLE v. James

Defendant, Edward James, after a 1962 jury trial in the then criminal court of Cook County, was convicted of the offense of rape and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not less than 15 nor more than 25 years. On writ of error, the judgment of conviction was affirmed by the Appellate Court for the First District. (62 Ill. App. 2d 225.) Subsequently, defendant filed a petition in the circuit court of Cook County under the provisions of the Post-Conviction Hearing Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1965, ch. 38, pars. 122 — 1 et seq.), contending that certain of his constitutional…