Alex Banta, Civil Rights Deprivation, Illinois 2023

Alex Banta, a 31-year-old former correctional officer at the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mt. Sterling, Illinois, was sentenced to 20 years in prison, 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 death of Larry Earvin, a 65-year-old inmate.

The sentencing hearing took place on February 20, 2023 in front of Senior U.S. District Judge Sue E. Myerscough. The government summarized the evidence from Banta's 2022 trial, during which they presented evidence that Banta and co-defendants Todd Sheffler, 54, a lieutenant at the correctional center, and Willie Hedden, 43, a sergeant, participated in the May 17, 2018, assault of Earvin.

The assault resulted in serious bodily injury to Earvin, including multiple broken ribs, a punctured mesentery, and other serious internal injuries, and resulted in Earvin's death in June 2018. After the assault, all three defendants falsified incident reports that they filed with prison officials and lied to the Illinois State Police by denying any knowledge of or participation in the assault.

Banta's sentence consisted of concurrent 15-year terms of imprisonment on two of the five counts of the indictment: conspiracy to deprive civil rights and deprivation of civil rights under color of law resulting in bodily injury and death. He also received five-year terms of imprisonment on the remaining three counts – conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct; obstruction – falsification of a document; and obstruction – misleading conduct – to run concurrent to each other and consecutive to the fifteen-year terms.

A federal grand jury had previously returned an indictment against Sheffler, of Mendon, Illinois; Hedden, of Mt. Sterling, Illinois; and Banta, of Quincy, Illinois, in December 2019. At the April 2022 trial, Banta was convicted of all five charges in the indictment. The jury in that joint trial was unable to reach verdicts as to Sheffler, resulting in a retrial in August 2022 at which he was convicted of the same charges.

Hedden pleaded guilty in March 2022 to both civil rights charges and to conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct. Sheffler's sentencing is scheduled for March 20, 2023, at 10 a.m., and Hedden's sentencing is set for March 22, 2023, at 10 a.m., both at the federal courthouse in Springfield, Illinois.

Source: https://www.justice.gov/usao-cdil/pr/illinois-prison-guard-sentenced-20-years-imprisonment-following-conviction-civil