1 year ago by Scott Hardy
Willie Hedden sentenced Wednesday in Springfield; testified against two other guards.
A Mount Sterling man, one of three employees of the Western Illinois Correctional Center in Mount Sterling charged in the May 2018 assault of an inmate that led to his death, has been sentenced.
Willie Hedden was in US District Court in Springfield Wednesday, where he was sentenced to 6 years in Federal prison. Hedden will also have 5 years' supervised release once he's out of prison. He’s pleaded Guilty to counts of conspiracy to deprive civil rights, deprivation of civil rights and conspiracy to engage in misleading conduct. Hedden admitted taking part in the May 17, 2018 beating of inmate Larry Earvin. Earvin suffered numerous injuries including a punctured colon and broken ribs, and died a month later. Hedden was hoping for a lighter sentence, after testifying in the trials of two former co-workers, Todd Sheffler of Mendon and Alex Banta of Quincy. All three men took part in the beating, and the attempt to conceal their roles in the crime from investigators.
Both Banta and Sheffler have each been sentenced to 20 years in Federal prison.
