Sue Meyerscough
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…
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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,”…
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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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