MT VERNON—The latest appeal of a man serving a 50-year sentence for killing a St. Clair County woman in 2005 was denied last month by a state appeals court panel.
In its 11-page decision, an Illinois Fifth District Appellate Court three-justice panel found that a lower court was not wrong when it denied Gary D. Wingate's request to file a successive petition for post conviction relief, "and any argument to the contrary would lack merit."
"There is no potential ground for appeal," the decision states.
Justice John B. Barberis, left, pictured with Chris Threlkeld, circuit court judge in Madison County
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Wingate's appointed counsel on appeal, assigned from the Office of the State Appellate Defender, had already filed a motion to withdraw on the ground that Wingate's appeal lacked merit. The Fifth District's decision also granted the motion to withdraw.
Appellate court Justice John B. Barberis wrote the decision in which Justice James R. Moore and Justice David K. Overstreet concurred.
Wingate's multiple appeals stem from the three-count indictment handed down against him by a St. Clair County grand jury in December 2005 in the shooting death of Darlene Russell the previous November, according to the decision's background portion and an earlier order. Wingate's trial began in October of the following year.
He was found guilty of first-degree murder and was sentenced to 50 years in prison.
Wingate, now 57, is being held at the maximum-security Stateville Correction Center, according to an online inmate search. His projected parole date is Nov. 2, 2055 and his projected discharge date is Nov. 2, 2058.
Wingate previously served time on residential burglary, armed robbery and obstruction of justice charges.
On direct appeal, the Fifth District affirmed Wingate's murder conviction.
His petition for post-conviction relief, filed pro se in October 2011, was dismissed by St. Clair County Circuit Court, and that dismissal was affirmed by the Fifth District.
Wingate's petition for successive post-conviction relief, filed in February 2016, was denied by the circuit court, which also denied Wingate's motion to reconsider. That motion was the subject of Wingate's latest appeal to the Fifth District.
In his appeals, Wingate argued, among other things, that his court-appointed direct-appeal counsel performed poorly, his own lack of legal knowledge and confusion about successive post-conviction petitions had contributed to his failure to raise his claims earlier.
"The defendant also seemed to suggest that the circuit court, even if it concluded that he had failed to satisfy the cause-and-prejudice test, should allow him to file a successive petition, due to the magnitude of the alleged errors in his case and the harshness of his sentence," the decision states.
In his successive petition for post-conviction relief, Wingate also claimed he is innocent in Russell's killing, "based on newly discovered evidence," the decision states.
"However, the defendant did not support the actual-innocence claim with any evidence and therefore, as a matter of law, no colorable claim of actual innocence was made," the decision states. "As for all the other claims presented in the successive petition, the defendant failed to satisfy the cause-and-prejudice test."