SOURCE: Kane County State’s Attorney’s Office press release

Arthur Manning

A St. Charles carnival worker has been sentenced to prison for a 2008 murder that occurred after a disagreement turned violent.

Arthur Manning, 63 (d.o.b. 2-5-1951), formerly of the 900 block of Main Street, St. Charles, was sentenced Wednesday, April 16, 2014, by Circuit Judge Susan Clancy Boles to 25 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Manning was convicted Dec. 19, 2013, of first-degree murder for stabbing to death 28-year-old Naromi Mannery of St. Charles in September 2008.

It was the second time Manning was convicted of the crime. Manning originally was convicted for killing Mannery in February 2009. In May 2011, the Illinois Appellate Court Second District ordered a new trial.

On Sept. 21, 2008, Mannery was drinking beer on the front porch of a Main Street residence with a friend. A short time later the men went to the side yard of 920 West Main Street, St. Charles, a residence the friend shared with Manning and co-defendants Guy Manning and Willie L. Wimberly. Mannery was told to leave the property because the landlord did not allow non-residents to be present. Mannery refused to leave, and the confrontation became physical, with Arthur Manning stabbing Mannery three times, killing him.

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

According to Illinois law, Manning must serve 100 percent of the sentence. He receives credit for time served in the Kane County jail and in prison. Manning has been in custody since September 2008.

The two co-defendants in the case each pleaded guilty: Guy Manning and Wimberly each pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated battery, a Class 3 felony, and each was sentenced to eight years in prison.

“This case is a textbook example of why violence is the wrong way to settle disputes.   When their disagreement escalated, Mr. Manning took matters into his own hands instead of calling 911. Mr. Manning might not have been looking for trouble that night, but when trouble found him, his response left a man dead and him probably living out his life behind bars,” Kane County State’s Attorney Joe McMahon said.

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