MT. VERNON –– A convicted sex offender cannot reverse his conviction, an appellate court has ruled.
In an Aug. 22 ruling, the Fifth District Appellate Court affirmed the lower court's decision dismissing Curtis Wiley's request for judgment relief. Wiley's request was barred by a two-year statute of limitations, the three-judge panel found.
Wiley pleaded guilty to criminal sexual abuse in 2009. The Randolph County Circuit Court fined Wiley $1,000 and required him to register as a sex offender for 10 years.
In 2016, Wiley filed a petition with the lower court for judgment relief. In the petition, Wiley argued that he pleaded guilty based on his attorney's advice. He also alleged he was legally disabled.
The appellate court disagreed.
In the ruling, Justice John Barberis wrote Wiley did not give any evidence that he could not understand the proceedings against him. Without such a determination, the lower court's determination that his petition was untimely stands, Barberis wrote, adding Wiley's claims were "meritless."
Barberis briefly addressed Wiley's claims that the victim fabricated the story and he believed she was of consenting age, writing that the statements provided by his witness were not new.
"Because the evidence the defendant relies upon to support his claim of actual innocence is neither newly discovered nor noncumulative, his actual innocence claim fails," Barberis wrote.
Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court Case number 5-16-0235