Alex Banta
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – Todd Sheffler, 54, of Mendon, a former lieutenant at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling, Illinois, was sentenced Monday to 20 years of imprisonment to be followed by five years of supervised release, for civil rights deprivation resulting in bodily injury and death and obstruction of justice in connection with…
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Alex Banta, 31, of Quincy, a former correctional officer at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling, was sentenced Thursday to 20 years’ imprisonment, to be followed by five years of supervised release, for civil rights deprivation resulting in bodily injury and death and obstruction of justice in connection with the…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — A jury of six women and six men deliberated for about three hours on Tuesday afternoon before finding a former lieutenant at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling guilty on five counts in connection with the 2018 death of a 65-year-old inmate. Todd Sheffler, 54, of Mendon was stoic as…
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — About 45 minutes after an eight-man, four-woman jury found a former corrections officer at the Western Illinois Correctional Center guilty of all five charges against him, two jurors were frustrated no decision was reached regarding the fate of a lieutenant at the same prison. “I don’t feel like we finished the job,”…
Read Full Article SPRINGFIELD — An eight-man, four-woman jury found one former prison guard at the Western Illinois Correctional Center guilty of all five charges in a trial that ended Monday, but the jury could not come to a decision on the fate of a second prison guard. Alex Banta, 30, of Quincy was found guilty of depriving…
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Assistant U.S. Attorney Eugene Miller said the case against two prison guards at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling comes down to two facts. “They beat him up,” he said during closing arguments Friday afternoon in the U.S. District Courthouse in the Paul Findley Federal Building. “Then they lied to…
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Closing arguments started Friday afternoon in the federal trial for two prison guards at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling. Two defense witnesses and a rebuttal witness for the prosecution were on the stand Friday morning at the U.S. District Courthouse. U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough then read jury instructions…
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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The jury in the federal trial for two prison guards at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling was sent home Tuesday morning because of “technical difficulties,” according to the chief deputy at the U.S. District Courthouse. During a brief status meeting on Tuesday afternoon, U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough scheduled…
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MOUNT STERLING, Ill. — Jury selection for the trial of two former correctional guards charged in the 2018 death of an inmate in the Western Illinois Correctional Center will begin Wednesday. A status conference before U.S. Magistrate Judge Eric I. Long was held Tuesday afternoon to discuss procedures for jury selection for the jury trial…
Read Full Article June 06, 2025
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