ASA Greg Sams is chief of the Post-Conviction Unit. Individuals who have been sentenced to prison and who believe their constitutional rights have been violated may challenge elements of their conviction or sentence under the Post-Conviction Act. When the SAO receives a post-conviction petition, it researches the case and reviews transcripts. The SAO then files a response to the petition or a motion to dismiss the petition. In both cases, the petition is set for hearing in front of a judge. The burden is on the defendant to prove the alleged constitutional violation. The unit addressed approximately 50 post-conviction matters.
The Post-Conviction Unit handles petitions filed by defendants who have previously been convicted of major crimes and, usually, remain in prison. These filings take the forms of two different types of petitions: either what are termed Post-Conviction Petitions (PCPs) or Petitions for Relief from Judgment (commonly referred to as 2-1401 petitions based on the statute that authorizes the petitions). PCPs raise issues of alleged deprivations of constitutional rights that a petitioner could not raise on his direct appeal, such as ineffective assistance of his trial attorney. The 2-1401 petitions, on the other hand, raise factual issues unknown to the petitioner at the time of trial that would allegedly, if known at the time of the trial, change the outcome of the trial. Almost all PCPs and 2-1401 petitions filed by defendants concern major crimes that have been prosecuted – either murder, attempted murder, or other crimes of physical violence such as sex crimes against both children and adults or other weapons offenses.
The three attorneys in this unit spend much of their day reviewing pertinent case law regarding issues raised and reading transcripts of the defendant’s trial and other hearings to analyze the issues. These transcripts often number in the thousands of pages. The PCP unit attorneys then must fashion a written response to a defendant’s petition, which is usually in the form of a very extensive and detailed Motion to Dismiss the petition. Therefore, unlike other ASAs in the office, the PCP unit attorneys must use their writing skills quite extensively. However, the PCP attorneys also must make oral arguments on the motions, which means that their persuasive speaking skills must also be honed. Oftentimes, the hearings they participate in are evidentiary, so the PCP attorneys must also be proficient in evidentiary presentation skills.
