Sworn witness statements exonerating murder defendant Georgio Gaines is sufficient to show the “gist” of a claim of actual innocence, a 1st District Appellate Court panel held in a nonprecedential order this week.The unanimous panel reversed a circuit court ruling that dismissed Gaines’ post-conviction petition. It found the witness statements met the low threshold to proceed beyond the first stage of post-conviction review.Gaines and co-defendant Frederick Smith were charged with the August 2006 murders …