Jurors deadlocked in Casciaro murder trial

By Gregory Harutunian

Correspondent

Following just two days of deliberations in the first-degree murder charges against Mario Casciaro, a deadlock has been declared.

On Feb. 1 McHenry County Judge Sharon Prather declared a mistrial after the jury  foreman informed her of the deadlock.

Prosecutors have indicted they will retry Casciaro, who was free on bond shortly after the announcement was made.

The deadlock came on the heels of more than one week of evidentiary hearings and testimony regarding the death and disappearance of Brian Carrick.

Casciaro was implicated for his alleged involvement or responsibility for the 2002 homicide, which occurred at the former Val’s Foods in Johnsburg.

The trial, conducted before Judge Prather at the McHenry County Courthouse in Woodstock, is an offshoot of almost a decade of cold case investigation leading to the charges, when Carrick did not return from work at the grocery store. His disappearance led to nationwide missing persons alert although no body was ever found.

“The evidence portion of the trial is completed,” said Joyce Synek, Executive Administrative Assistant for the McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office. “Arguments to the jury …followed by jury instructions, and finally, (come) jury deliberation,” he said prior to the deadlock announcement.

According to trial proceedings, prosecution attorneys have argued that Carrick’s death was the result of a “strong-arm” tactic to recover drug money from the 17-year old, based on the testimony of former grocery store employee Shane Lamb. Casciaro, Carrick, and Lamb were allegedly selling marijuana.

Lamb testified that Casciaro contacted him to help scare Carrick for a supposed $400 unpaid amount in drug money. The duo allegedly cornered Carrick in the stores walk-in cooler, where Lamb hit the teenager and his head hit the concrete floor. Casciaro told Lamb to leave, and he claimed to have no knowledge of subsequent events.

Through the years, Casciaro allegedly acknowledged his involvement with the death and disappearance to others, and was also arrested for accusations of lying to a grand jury, convened to review the disappearance of Carrick. Casciaro was released by Prather in 2008 of the perjury charges that were dismissed.

He was later re-arrested on first-degree murder charges for alleging that he or another person under his responsibility committed the homicide. A problematic concern for the prosecution has been the lack of a body, and also the DNA testing methods that linked another store employee, Robert Render. He was charged with allegedly concealing a crime, those charges were later dismissed.

Our office cannot answer any other questions at this time, other than we have worked closely with the Carrick family since we began our re-investigation of the murder,” Synek said. “This took place shortly after state’s attorney Lou Bianchi took office.”

The disappearance of Carrick in December of 2002 literally galvanized the Johnsburg community, with family and residents conducting missing person searches throughout the municipality, eventually expanding the parameters to a nationwide level.

The Casciaro family left the store site at 4000 N. Johnsburg Road to open their open grocery in Fox Lake. Val’s Foods closed more than one year ago, but the site has re-opened as a grocery store under new ownership.

 


Posted

in

by

Tags: