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Court hears appeal for Casciaro Man was found guilty of first-degree murder in death of J’burg teen By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com ELGIN – Attorneys made oral arguments Monday before a panel of three judges who will now decide whether to overturn or affirm the first-degree murder conviction for Mario Casciaro. The key issue before the Second District Court of Appeals in Elgin is whether or not asking someone to “talk to” another amounts to a specific threat, and wheth-
Voice your opinion Do you think an appellate court will overturn Mario Casciaro’s murder conviction? Vote online at NWHerald.com.
er that’s enough to uphold a murder conviction. Casciaro was found guilty of first-degree murder with intimidation stemming from the 2002 death of 17-year-old Brian Carrick. Casciaro’s ap-
pellate attorney says it’s the first conviction of its kind in the state, if not the country. “I hope this doesn’t become the standard,” Kathleen Zellner told the panel of judges. Casciaro was sentenced Mario to 26 years in Casciaro prison. Appellate Justices Kathryn Zenoff, Susan Hutchin-
son and Robert Spence will consider the arguments although it’s unclear how long it will be before they issue a decision. It could be weeks or months. Prosecutors have successfully argued that Casciaro used another man – Shane Lamb – as the “muscle” to intimidate Carrick into paying a drug debt. Evidence presented at trial revealed Casciaro would front the teens marijuana, and they would pay Casciaro once the drugs
were sold. According to trial testimony, Carrick owed Casciaro money, so Casciaro called Lamb into the Johnsburg grocery store where all three worked to “talk to” Carrick. An argument between Lamb and Carrick turned violent. But Zellner says there is no evidence that Casciaro phoned Lamb to return to the grocery store, other than Lamb’s testimony. “We dispute entirely that that conversation occurred,”
Zellner said. “There is no evidence that phone conversation ever occurred. … Not a single person ever saw Mr. Lamb return to the store that night.” Zellner also said the crime didn’t happen the way the state presented. She said another teen – Robert Render – was responsible for the death, and said it didn’t occur in the cooler, but in the hallway leading into it.
See CASCIARO, page A2
Peters trial set to begin Tuesday Man accused of shooting deputies By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – Opening arguments are planned for Tuesday in the trial of Scott B. Peters, the Holiday Hills man accused of shooting and injuring two McHenry County sheriff’s deputies who responded to his home in the middle of the night. On Monday, attorneys exhausted an entire 35-person jury pool before four men and seven women were impaneled to decide Peters’ fate. An additional juror Scott B. Peters and two alternates will be selected first thing Tuesday. A number of jurors were excused when they said they had read news Dwight accounts of Maness Peters’ arrest and that they couldn’t put aside any opinions they’ve formed. Peters is facing significant prison Khalia time on atSatkiewicz tempted murder and weapons charges. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges. It will be the first time the public will hear the details about what took place Oct. 16 directly from the injured officers. Deputies Dwight Maness and Khalia Satkiewicz have respectfully declined requests for an interview. Authorities have said Maness and Satkiewicz responded to a domestic disturbance call placed by a friend of Peters’ wife. When they arrived,
See PETERS, page A4
Photos by H. Rick Bamman – hbamman@shawmedia.com
McHenry County College student Anthony Chesney sits in the Zen garden on the Crystal Lake campus. McHenry County College has been ramping up its learning community programs, designed to be a more fun than traditional classes while targeting two subject areas. “Juicy Mangos: Enlightenment in the East” explores the philosophy and art of Eastern regions, including India, China, Korea and Japan. The class combines two classes, Eastern philosophy and non-Western art.
Learning communities MCC offers combined courses aimed at engaging students By EMILY K. COLEMAN ecoleman@shawmedia.com CRYSTAL LAKE – The task assigned by their teachers was to find something in the garden to take care of – raking the pebbles into wavy lines, picking dead leaves off the ivy climbing the walls or gathering leaves and pine needles into piles. Located in the middle of one of the buildings that make up McHenry County College, the Zen garden was a short trip for the class and provided a hands-on lesson in Zen Buddhism. “These are sort of supposed to be the microcosms of the universe,” said one of the professors, Timothy Seitz, gesturing at the rounded sections filled with gravel. “The large rocks are representing mountains, and the small, gravely rocks are water. ... This is a kind of moving meditation where the Zen Buddhist idea is that meditation and wisdom
A rake sits idle after a student created a pattern while meditating in the Zen garden at McHenry County College. are one in the same thing. You meditate in order to gain wisdom. Meditation itself is insight.”
The class is one of a growing number of learning communities, courses that combine two classes,
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giving students more time with each other and their teachers while encouraging them to make connections across subjects. It’s a trend more community colleges and universities are jumping on, according to Kate Midday, the chairwoman of the Learning Community program at MCC. Some universities now make them mandatory for all students, either placing all the freshmen in the same course or using them to connect students with shared majors. This course – called Juicy Mangos: Enlightenment in the East – explores the philosophy and art of Eastern regions including India, China, Korea and Japan. Others are aimed at students in specific programs like robotics or students that need to get through the remedial noncredit English and math classes.
See LEARNING, page A4
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