Former Adams County State’s Attorney appointed as special prosecutor in Wiley first-degree murder case

QUINCY — Former Adams County State’s Attorney Jon Barnard will be a special prosecutor in the case of Travis Wiley, who has been charged with first-degree murder in the death of an infant in 2018.

Court records show Barnard, the state’s attorney from 2004 to 2016, entered his appearance on Tuesday, July 19 in Wiley’s case. He was appointed by the Fourth Judicial District’s Appellate Prosecutor program through the Office of the Illinois State’s Attorneys in Springfield. The Fourth Judicial District is comprised of 30 counties across central Illinois.

Court records also show Judge Michael Atterberry entered an order on Monday to appoint the Adams County Public Defender’s Office to represent Wiley, 34. He will make his next appearance in an Adams County courtroom on Aug. 8 with his new attorney.

Atterberry ruled July 6 in Adams County Circuit Court that the Adams County State’s Attorney’s office could no longer participate in the prosecution of Wiley. Ryan Parker, an attorney with the local firm Hauk & Owens, had represented Wiley since Aug. 1, 2018 — a little more than a month after Wiley was arrested on June 20, 2018. However, Parker recently accepted a job as an assistant state’s attorney in Adams County. His first day on the job was June 21.

Parker filed a motion to withdraw as Wiley’s counsel on June 13.

Wiley set to go to trial July 18 on three counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery in the Jan. 22, 2018, death of an infant girl. He is accused of shaking the infant on Jan. 20, 2018. She died two days later at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. 

Wiley continues to be held in the Adams County Jail on $5 million bond.