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 […]
Timothy Bass
‘I don’t feel like we finished the job’: Jury finds Banta guilty in Mount Sterling prison beating death, can’t reach unanimous decision on Sheffler
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,” […]
Case against two prison guards from Western Illinois Correctional Center now in jury’s hands
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 […]
Closing arguments begin in federal trial for Mount Sterling prison guards
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 […]
