Two Sentenced to Prison in Jackson County

Micheal C. Carr, State’s Attorney for Jackson County, IL, announced the sentences.

On Friday, a sentence of 3 years was given to 25-year-old Casey M. Parnell of DuQuoin for involuntary manslaughter of her newborn child. She is also required to serve one year supervised release and undergo alcohol and drug counseling.

Parnell was indicted by a Jackson County Grand Jury for involuntary manslaughter, related to the death of her newborn baby. She was arrested on December 6, 2012.

At her plea hearing on March 26, Parnell admitted that she gave birth to a baby in a toilet while at a crack cocaine party on Sycamore Street in Carbondale. She told the judge she thought the baby was dead, but the forensic pathologist in the case said the child died of hypoxia-asphyxiation, because it was wrapped in a towel and placed in a garbage bag.

Parnell remains in Jackson County Jail until her transfer to an Illinois prison.

Carr also announced that 19-year-old Brendon J. Wells, originally of Chicago, received a 40-month sentence for his part of an aggravated battery on the campus of Southern Illinois University.

Wells, who came to Carbondale to attend SIU in the fall of 2012, was charged with three others with battery against another SIU student. He admitted to police, and later to the court, that he had struck the victim in a dorm room on SIU's campus on November 29, 2012. Wells was arrested on December 2, and is still in Jackson County Jail, where he remains until taken to prison.