People v. Echols

The appellant, Johnny Wilson, was convicted of one count of burglary (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 19—1) in the circuit court of Macon County. A majority of the Appellate Court, Fourth District, affirmed (48 Ill. App. 3d 885), holding, inter alia, that appellant had not been denied the effective assistance of counsel as a result of his having been represented at trial by the same attorney who represented appellant’s two co-defendants in the joint trial of the three. We granted appellant’s petition for leave to appeal on that issue, and we now reverse.

On June 11, 1974, a grand jury…