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,” […]
Willie Hedden
Jury finds Banta guilty on all five counts but can’t reach decision on Sheffler
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 […]
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 […]
Jury selection begins Wednesday in trial of former correctional guards charged with 2018 death of inmate in Mount Sterling prison
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 […]
