A southwestern Illinois man has been ordered to spend eight years in prison for severely beating his infant son.  The Belleville News-Democrat reports 21-year old Randall Penn of Shiloh asked a Saint Clair County judge for mercy before being sentenced Wednesday.  He says he was “truly remorseful” and hopes to become an ordained minister.  Penn already had pleaded guilty to charges of aggravated battery of a child.  Shiloh police began investigating Penn last July, after being told by state child-welfare officials that the 4-month old was hospitalized with possibly abuse-related injuries including brain damage and bite marks on the boy’s face.  Penn’s attorney asked the judge for the minimum sentence of six years in prison.  Prosecutors pressed for the maximum punishment of 30 years.