Todd Nelson
QUINCY — A court-appointed attorney for Bradley Yohn, who received a 130-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections 11 months ago, has filed a motion claiming ineffective assistance of post-trial counsel and another motion asking for a new trial. A six-page motion filed Aug. 9 in Adams County Circuit Court by Mark Wykoff of…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The judges of the Eighth Judicial Circuit have named Christopher Pratt as Adams County’s chief public defender on an interim basis upon Todd Nelson’s departure from the office this week. Pratt has been with the public defender’s office since 2016. He said his first task in the new role is “trying to salvage…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Todd Nelson is stepping down after nearly 7½ years as the chief public defender for the Adams County Public Defender’s office. He sent a letter to county officials last week announcing his plan to leave the position on Feb. 15. “The time has come for me to pursue other opportunities,” Nelson said in…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Christina Engle wrapped her arms around her daughters, Kirsten and Trinity Dunford, as she listened in an Adams County courtroom while Judge Michael Atterberry sentenced Travis Wiley, who was found guilty in November for the first-degree murder of Engle’s infant daughter, Airyana Hoffman. Even at that moment, as Engle described in her victim impact…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Travis Wiley, who was found guilty in November of the first-degree murder of three-month-old Airyana Hoffman in 2018, was given a 35-year prison sentence Friday morning. Judge Michael Atterberry called the case an “unmitigated tragedy.” Several family members wore purple to the sentencing, calling attention to domestic violence. Special Prosecutor Jon Barnard, who…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Victor A. Weems III heard a litany of charges read against him in Adams County Circuit Court Tuesday afternoon after more than seven months on the run from authorities. Weems, 19, of Quincy, who was arrested Monday during a raid at an apartment complex at 3100 State. He was formally charged with first-degree…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A Quincy man indicted in October 2022 on multiple sex offense charges chose not to accept a plea agreement and tried to get a new lawyer before agreeing to have a bench trial in December. Aaron Washington, 47, appeared with Chief Public Defender Todd Nelson before Judge Robert Adrian on Wednesday afternoon in…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Assistant State’s Attorney Josh Jones said Mackenzie Bullard was shot in the head and killed as the result of an armed robbery during which a group of adults and juveniles allegedly conspired to steal a gun. Jones revealed that information during status hearings Tuesday afternoon in Adams County Circuit Court for Tristian L.…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Five arrests have been made in connection with the October shooting death of a teenage girl in October. However, none of the people arrests have been charged with her death, and Assistant State’s Attorney Josh Jones is frustrated because of changes in Illinois law that prevents him from making those charges. “(Assistant State’s…
Read Full Article 
An Adams County jury has found Travis Wiley guilty of first-degree murder in the case of Airyana Huffman, a baby who died of head trauma five years ago. Wiley’s sentencing will be on Jan. 26.
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Travis Wiley had little to say other than “Yes, your honor” or “No, your honor” throughout the week. Moments before bailiffs Steve Traubitz and John Ervin escorted him back to the Adams County Jail on Friday afternoon, Wiley blurted, “I just want everyone to know I didn’t do it.” An Adams County jury…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — After dismissing the medical theories of Dr. Jane Turner as “a house of cards” and saying Travis Wiley belonged on the cover of “Bad Luck Magazine” if his story was to be believed, Special Prosecutor Jon Barnard showed a photo of Airyana Hoffman to an Adams County jury. “She will not see a…
Read Full Article 
Video testimony from Thursday included QUINCY — “Her severe head injuries were due to abusive head trauma and led to her death.” That was the opinion of Dr. Channing Petrak, a child abuse pediatrician from Peoria, as to how 2-month-old Airyana Hoffman died on Jan. 22, 2018, after being found unresponsive in her mother’s apartment…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Travis Wiley told first responders he fell asleep for 45 to 60 minutes in Christina Engle’s apartment on Jan. 20, 2018, only to awake to see her 2-month-old daughter, Airyana Hoffman, unresponsive. Testimony about the extraction of data from Wiley’s cellphone may have shown he wasn’t truthful about what he did that afternoon.…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Special Prosecutor Jon Barnard told an Adams County jury that medical experts will tell them during the first-degree murder trial of Travis Wiley the death of 2-month-old Airyana Hoffman was caused by abusive head trauma. Barnard gave his opening statement Tuesday morning during the second day of the trial in Adams County Circuit…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Christina Engle was at work at a local fast-food restaurant during the afternoon of Jan. 20, 2018, when she was told she had a phone call and that she had an emergency. On the line was her boyfriend, Travis Wiley. The words she heard from Wiley began a nightmare that changed her life…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Jury selection began Monday morning in the first-degree murder trial of Travis Wiley in connection to the January 2018 death of an infant girl. Wiley, 35, was clean shaven and wearing a suit and tie when he appeared with Chief Public Defender Todd Nelson before Judge Michael Atterberry in Adams County Circuit Court. …
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The Adams County Public Defender’s office has not accepted new felony cases since Oct. 10 and won’t accept new cases in November because the department is operating without three attorneys and the caseloads of current staff members are excessive, according to Todd Nelson, chief public defender. Nelson sent a letter to six circuit…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Motions to allow testimony from jailhouse informants in the Travis Wiley first-degree murder case were withdrawn on Thursday. Wiley, 35, was scheduled to appear with Public Defender Todd Nelson for a status hearing Friday morning before Judge Michael Atterberry in Adams County Circuit Court. Atterberry had ruled Oct. 11 that the testimony of an inmate…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A Quincy man indicted over a year ago on multiple sex offense charges is scheduled to have his bench trial in December. Aaron Washington, 46, was arrested on Sept. 12, 2022 after being interviewed at the Quincy Police Department. He is charged with Criminal Sexual Assault of a Family Member under the age…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — One potential delay was avoided Wednesday morning, but another potential delay may put the start of the Travis Wiley first-degree murder case in question. Wiley, 35, appeared with Public Defender Todd Nelson for a status hearing Tuesday morning before Judge Michael Atterberry in Adams County Circuit Court. Wiley faces three counts of first-degree…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Judge Roger Thomson called Bradley Yohn “the most reprehensible person ever before me” during his career in law before sentencing him on Monday afternoon to 130 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. A 10-man, two-woman jury determined on July 17 that Yohn was guilty of the crimes he committed on Nov. 9,…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The trial for a Quincy man, charged more than five years ago with first-degree murder in the death of an infant, is on track to begin Nov. 13. Travis Wiley, 35, appeared with Public Defender Todd Nelson for a status hearing before Judge Michael Atterberry Thursday afternoon in Adams County Circuit Court. Wiley…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — A Quincy woman facing four counts of first-degree murder after a 2020 accident has agreed to a plea. Natasha McBride, 39, appeared Monday morning in Adams County Circuit Court with her attorney, Public Defender Todd Nelson, before Judge Tad Brenner. A three-day bench trial was scheduled to begin Monday morning. However, when Brenner asked…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The seemingly never-ending saga of Bradley Yohn in Adams County Circuit Court may finally be close to a trial. At the end of a Friday morning motion hearing, Yohn informed Judge Roger Thomson he had four more motions he wanted to file. Thomson (who lives in Havana) agreed to have another motion hearing…
Read Full Article 
