A former employee of an Illinois skilled nursing facility was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison, but is expected to serve much less, after pleading guilty to murder in the death of a 79-year-old resident.
Claude Shinall (right), 27, was charged last year in the death of Gene Farnsworth, a resident of Marigold Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Galesburg, IL. Shinall originally pleaded not guilty to charges that he beat and choked Farnsworth after he fell out of his bed in 2015.
He also made headlines during that hearing for making a crude hand gesture toward the resident’s family in court.
Shinall pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Wednesday after additional charges were dismissed as part of a plea deal. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison but was given credit for 699 days served in jail and will serve his sentence at 50%, the Galesburg Register-Mail reported. That means he will spend about 4.5 years more in prison and then be subject to two years probation, the newspaper noted.
A request for comment from Petersen Health Care, Marigold’s parent company, was not returned by production deadline on Thursday.
