Carnival worker convicted in fatal St. Charles stabbing won't get third trial
The state Supreme Court has reversed an appellate court ruling ordering a third trial in a fatal stabbing by a carnival worker in St. Charles nearly 10 years ago.
The ruling means Arthur Manning's conviction stands, there will be no new trial, and he will continue serving a 25-year sentence for killing Naromi Mannery, 28, in September 2008.
In a 2013 trial, Manning was convicted of first-degree murder as prosecutors presented evidence Mannery was beaten with a chair and stabbed in the back, chest and right arm.
Mannery had been drinking with one of Manning's carnival co-workers but was not allowed at a house on the 900 block of Main Street owned by Windy City Amusements because he didn't work for the company.
A fight ensued, and Manning testified he "lost it" after Mannery threw the first punch and used a racial slur.
Last year, an appellate court sent the matter back to Kane County, ruling the judge should have polled the jury about whether a mitigating factor existed - such as self-defense - that could have triggered lesser charges of second-degree murder.
But the state's highest court disagreed, saying judge's instructions to the jury that the verdict must be unanimous was the correct response.
If the Supreme Court would have affirmed the appellate ruling, Manning, now 67, would have had a third trial in Kane County.
Manning's first conviction in a 2009 trial was overturned by an appellate panel that said jurors were not allowed to consider self-defense in deliberations.
Manning is due for release from prison in 2033.