Illinois prison guards' trial in deadly inmate beating begins

Three state prison guards brutalized a 65-year-old handcuffed inmate at a western Illinois lockup four years ago, leading to the man's death and prompting the officers to attempt a coverup, a prosecutor said Monday at two of the guards' federal trial.

But defense attorneys for Department of Corrections Lt. Todd Sheffler and Officer Alex Banta argued during opening statements that their clients weren't where others claim they were at the time of the May 17, 2018, beating of Larry Earvin, and that the testimony of dozens of witnesses will prove "illusory, contradictory and ambiguous."

Sheffler, 53, of Mendon, and Banta, 30, of Quincy are on trial in U.S. District Court. They each face charges of depriving Earvin of his civil rights, conspiracy to deprive civil rights, tampering with a witness, destruction or falsification of records and intimidation or force against a witness.

"They kicked him. They stomped on him. Banta jumped up in the air with both knees and landed on his chest...," Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Bass said. "Lt. Sheffler, as senior officer ... participated in the battery. After turning him over to the segregation unit, the officers went to the health care unit to get treatment for scratches - scratches."

Earvin, whose death was ruled a homicide, died five weeks after the 2018 incident at Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling, 250 miles southwest of Chicago. Earvin was serving a six-year sentence for a Cook County robbery and due for release in September of that year.