Sept. 18--The conviction of Mario Casciaro in the killing of his teenage grocery store co-worker Brian Carrick -- one of the most notorious cases in McHenry County history -- has been overturned.
The ruling by the 2nd District Appellate Court -- that prosecutors failed to prove Casciaro's guilt beyond a reasonable doubt -- represents another stunning turn of events in the case that began Dec. 20, 2002, when Carrick, 17, disappeared after having been seen at the grocery store where he worked and which was co-owned by Casciaro's family.
The case remained cold for many years before Casciaro was arrested and charged in 2010. Now 32, Casciaro was tried twice before prosecutors won a conviction on the rarely used charge of first-degree murder by intimidation and sentenced to 26 years in prison. The case also was unusual because Carrick's body was never found.
"This is the best day of my life," said Casciaro's sister Julia Muell. "We've known he is innocent from day one, we just needed the world to know. We are just so happy that the world knows now."
The appeals court ruling paves the way for Casciaro to be released from prison, though that could be delayed because McHenry County prosecutor Michael Combs said the state will appeal Thursday's decision to the Illinois Supreme Court.
"We respectfully disagree with (their decision)," Combs said. "We are disappointed and we disagree."
Prosecutors have long maintained that Casciaro was guilty because he was responsible for the actions of another man, Shane Lamb, who was another grocery store co-worker who testified during both trials that he confronted Carrick in a walk-in cooler at the store at Casciaro's behest. Authorities asserted that Carrick had been dealing marijuana for Casciaro, who was angry because Carrick owed him $500.
Lamb admitted to delivering what was presumed to be the fatal punch to Carrick, but prosecutors had argued Casciaro was ultimately responsible because he had ordered the confrontation. But the appeals court ruled that the testimony by Lamb -- who was later arrested and imprisoned for an unrelated weapons charge -- could not be trusted.
"The state invested everything in Lamb by granting him complete immunity, but Lamb failed to supply any evidence that defendant used him to threaten Carrick," the appeals judge wrote. "Lamb's unequivocal testimony that defendant did not ask or tell him to threaten Carrick simply cannot be twisted to support the inference that defendant used Lamb to threaten Carrick."
Casciaro was charged with murder in the case more than seven years after Carrick disappeared, after Lamb agreed to testify against Casciaro.
Lamb testified that, while in the cooler with Carrick, he became angry when Carrick said he didn't have the money he owed to Casciaro. Lamb punched Carrick, who fell to the ground unconscious, and Lamb testified that Casciaro then told him to leave and that he would take care of Carrick.
Lamb said the last time he saw Carrick, he was on the floor of the produce cooler, bleeding from his mouth and nose. Lamb said he followed Casciaro's orders and left the store. He said he never knew what happened to Carrick and after a couple of days began hearing the teen was missing.
Local and state police and the FBI investigated and discovered Carrick's blood in and around the cooler, as well as on boxes that were found in a dumpster outside the store.
Lamb testified that he would never have been in the cooler that night if Casciaro hadn't told him to go the store to "talk" to Carrick.
After Casciaro's first murder trial in 2012, the jury was split on his guilt and a mistrial was declared. But prosecutors won Casciaro's conviction at his second trial in the following year.
But then, in another bizarre twist, Lamb recanted his testimony, saying he lied on the witness stand and was never in Val's that night.
Lamb asserted that prosecutors coached him on what to say and, in exchange, he received a lighter sentence on an unrelated drug charge and immunity in the Carrick case.
Casciaro attorney Kathleen Zellner has theorized that another store employee was responsible for Carrick's death, but that man, Robert Render, died before Casciaro's second trial.
In 2008, Render was charged with concealment of a homicide in the Carrick disappearance, but the charges were later dismissed.
A year earlier, Casciaro himself was accused of lying to a grand jury about Carrick and was charged with perjury, but also was ultimately cleared of those charges.
Residents from the small McHenry County town have said Carrick's disappearance caused a division there.
Carrick came from a well-known Johnsburg family and was one of 14 children. Many of his siblings also had worked in the store.
Carrick's mom, Terry, died in 2009, months before Casciaro's arrest. His father, William, died in December.
William Carrick never expressed anger or hatred against anyone connected to his son's death. He had said he always believed that his son was killed in an accident, and that those who knew the truth were afraid to come forward. He often said that he only sought closure and forgiveness and not vengeance.
When Casciaro was convicted, William Carrick said he believed justice had been done.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.
