Carnival Worker Found Guilty of Murder — Again

A carnival worker from St. Charles whose 2009 conviction and 29-year prison sentence in a 2008 murder was overturned has been convicted again during his retrial this week.

A jury deliberated less than two hours before returning a guilty verdict against Arthur Manning, 62, formerly of the 900 block of West Main Street, St. Charles. Manning was convicted Thursday, Dec. 18, 2013 of first-degree murder.

Manning stabbed to death Naromi Mannery, 28, of St. Charles in September 2008.

The retrial lasted 2½  days, according to a release from the Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office, which announced the verdict late Thursday afternoon.

Manning first was convicted in 2009 and was sentenced to 29 years in prison for murdering Mannert. But the Illinois Appellate Court overturned the conviction and sentence, prompting the retrial.

According to the release, Mannery was drinking a beer with a friend on the front porch of a Main Street home on Sept. 21, 2008. The two men then went to the side yard of 920 W. Main St., a residence Mannery’s friend shared with Manning and co-defendants Guy Manning and Willie L. Wimberly.

Authorities say Mannery was told to leave the property because the landlord did not allow nonresidents to be present, but he refused. The confrontation became physical, according to prosecutors, and Manning stabbed Mannery three times, killing him.

The release also quotes part of a dialogue Manning had afterward with authorities.

“I just went berserk,” Manning told St. Charles police after the stabbing. “I don’t like to stop until somebody goes to the hospital or somebody goes to the graveyard.”

During his first trial in February 2009, Manning was convicted and sentenced to 29 years in prison. But the Second District Illinois Appellate Court overturned the conviction in May 2011 and ordered a new trial, according to the release. The court found that improper jury instructions were allowed by the trial court.

“The facts of the case didn’t change, and I’m grateful this jury saw Mr. Manning’s actions the same way as the first jury,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said in the release.

Manning is scheduled to appear in court next at 1 p.m. Feb. 7, 2014, before Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles for motions and sentencing. He faces a sentence of between 20 and 29 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections, with credit for the time he already has served since he was arrested in September 2008.

Manning remains in the Kane County jail, where he had been held since his 2011 release from prison in lieu of $1 million bail. His bond was revoked upon conviction.

The case was prosecuted by Kane County Assistant State’s Attorneys Greg Sams and Daniel Weiler.

According to the release, Manning’s two co-defendants — Guy Manning and Wimberly — each pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony. Each was sentenced to eight years in prison.