The People of the State of Illinois, Appellee, vs. Rufus Vail, Appellant

Summary

The court affirmed dismissal of the defendant’s post-conviction petition because it merely repeated sufficiency-of-the-evidence and credibility claims previously decided on direct appeal and alleged no substantial constitutional deprivation. The court also held that new due-process and confrontation claims based on police testimony were not properly before it because they were not raised in the post-conviction proceeding. The court stated that those claims would fail on the merits in any event because the officers testified only about conversations occurring in the defendant’s presence and all prosecution witnesses testified at trial subject to cross-examination.