Federal prosecutors and defense attorneys offered starkly different explanations Friday for the fatal beating of an Illinois prison inmate four years ago in closing arguments before a jury began deliberating in the trial of two former correctional officers.
Todd Sheffler, 53, of Mendon, and Alex Banta, 30, of Quincy, are charged with violating Larry Earvin's civil rights in theat Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling. Earvin, 65, died five weeks later.
Hedden, 43, of Mount Sterling, testified during the four-week trial that he, Sheffler and Banta punched, kicked, stomped and jumped on Earvin in the vestibule of Western's segregation unit, where there are no security cameras. The prison is 250 miles southwest of Chicago. The government's case rests largely on what assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass characterized as compelling, if circumstantial, evidence. The last security camera to record Earvin shows him bent over, but walking into segregation. Minutes later, photographs and testimony revealed that he had to be carried into a holding cell and that he was bleeding from a head wound, nearly unresponsive and vomiting, Bass said.
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