Wiley to be represented by public defender’s office; Barnard makes first appearance as special prosecutor

QUINCY — A Quincy man charged with first-degree murder in the death of an infant in 2018 made his first appearance in Adams County Circuit Court with a representative from the public defender’s on Monday morning.

A former Adams County state’s attorney from 2004 to 2016 also made his first appearance as a special prosecutor in the case to represent the Adams County State’s Attorney’s office.

Jon Barnard was appointed July 19 by the Fourth Judicial District’s Appellate Prosecutor program through the Office of the Illinois State’s Attorneys in Springfield. The Fourth Judicial District is comprised of 30 counties across central Illinois.

Judge Michael Atterberry ruled July 6 in Adams County Circuit Court that the Adams County State’s Attorney’s office could no longer participate in the prosecution of Travis Wiley. Ryan Parker, an attorney with the local firm Hauk & Owens, had represented Wiley since Aug. 1, 2018 — a little more than a month after Wiley was arrested on June 20, 2018. However, Parker recently accepted a job as an assistant state’s attorney in Adams County.

Wiley, 34, appeared Monday with public defender Christopher Pratt, who was substituting for public defender Todd Nelson. 

Atterberry set a status hearing for Sept. 8 to “give each of (the attorneys) time to get your feet wet in the case.” He said he hopes to have a trial date set during that hearing.

Barnard said he received a banker’s box filled with material about the case last week.

“I don’t know what the public defender’s office has or doesn’t have,” he said. “When Mr. Nelson gets back to the office, he’s going to contact me to let me know what materials he has received from previous defense counsel, so I don’t have to reinvent the wheel in producing discovery to him.”