Ex-carnival worker again found guilty of killing St. Charles man

A Kane County jury convicted a former carnival worker Wednesday in his second trial on charges he fatally stabbed a 28-year-old St. Charles man.

Arthur Manning, 62, was convicted in 2009 and sentenced to 29 years in prison for the Sept. 21, 2008, murder of Naromi Mannery, but an appellate court overturned the verdict because the jurors were not allowed to consider self-defense in their deliberations.

This time, jurors deliberated less than two hours before Manning was again convicted.

According to prosecutors, Mannery was beaten with a chair, stabbed in the back, chest and right arm after he drunkenly refused to leave a St. Charles home on the 900 block of Main Street, which was owned by Windy City Amusements and housed several of its employees.

Mannery, a painter who lived nearby, had been drinking beer that night with one of Manning's co-workers and a fight broke out when he was told he could not enter the home because he didn't work for the carnival.

In a recorded police interview played for jurors during the trial this week, Manning admitted to stabbing Mannery after he was punched and called a racial slur.

"I stabbed him because I was angry. The only thing he had to do was get up and walk away," Manning told detectives, insisting Mannery started the fight.

Mannery stumbled to a nearby block where he collapsed and was spotted by a passer-by, who called police. He died a couple of hours later and police followed a trail of blood back to the house.

Police initially charged Manning and two others with the murder: Manning's brother, Guy, 56, and Willie Wimberly, 61.

Guy Manning and Wimberly both pleaded guilty to the reduced charge of aggravated battery and were sentenced to eight years in prison. Their sentences have been served since they were eligible to have their sentences cut in half for good behavior.

A fourth man, Darren A. Barnett, 48, was charged with cleaning up the crime scene. He pleaded guilty to obstructing justice and was sentenced to 180 days in jail.

Arthur Manning, who has a long criminal history that includes convictions for robbery and drugs, will be resentenced Feb. 7 by Judge Susan Clancy Boles. He faces between 20 and 60 years in prison and must serve the entire sentence.