CARMI – A Norris City man was sentenced in White County Court Monday to a total of 54 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections on six counts of Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child – a Class X felony – and one count of Attempt Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child – a Class 1 felony – following a nearly three hour contested sentencing hearing.

White County State’s Attorney Denton Aud says Counts One through Five and Seven involving Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child were ordered to run consecutive to one another for a total sentence of 54 years for 42-year-old Ronald E. Howell with Count Six Attempt Predatory Criminal Sexual Assault of a Child ordered to run concurrently with Count One.

Count One through Five and Seven each carry a nine year sentence in IDOC with three years to natural life of mandatory supervised release. Count Six carries a nine year sentence in IDOC and 18 months of mandatory supervised release.

Aud says Howell will have to serve a minimum of 85 percent of the 54 year sentence – 45.9 years – before becoming eligible for parole.

Howell was found guilty of the seven counts by a jury of his peers following a weeklong jury trial in January. Howell was represented by Attorney Paige Strawn out of Mt. Vernon, IL during the jury trial. Prior the originally scheduled sentencing hearing, Strawn withdrew her representation.

During the sentencing hearing, Howell was represented by Scott King and Tonya Craft out of Atlanta, Georgia. State’s Attorney Denton Aud has prosecuted the case throughout the entirety of the proceedings. Illinois State Police was the investigating agency.

Judge Thomas Dinn was the presiding judge during the jury trial and ultimately the presiding judge that determined and imposed Monday’s sentence. While imposing his sentence, Judge Dinn advised the defendant that having heard the evidence during the trial, he would have certainly found him guilty if it had been a bench trial instead of a jury trial.

The case has been set on Oct. 10 for a hearing on post-trial motions to be filed by the defendant.