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2002 MURDER CASE OF JOHNSBURG TEEN BRIAN CARRICK
Key witness recants testimony
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Durbin, Oberweis debate gun laws By SARA BURNETT The Associated Press
Shaw Media file photo
A missing poster and yellow ribbon for missing 17-year-old Brian Carrick are seen Dec. 2, 2003, on a tree in Johnsburg. After two trials, Mario Casciaro was found guilty of first-degree murder of Carrick based on intimidation. The state’s key witness in the case, Shane Lamb, has recanted his statements in a Sept. 12 affidavit, saying his testimony that convicted Casciaro was all a lie. INSET: Lamb (from left to right), Casciaro and Carrick.
Lamb alleges prosecutor fed him details By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com WOODSTOCK – The prosecution’s key witness in a murder case is alleging that his testimony, which helped put another man behind bars, was a lie. In a sworn statement, Shane Lamb, 30, recanted earlier accounts of what happened the night 17-year-old Brian Carrick disappeared. He now says the version of events he told authorities and prosecutors, and eventually testified to before 24 jurors was force-fed to him by the prosecution. In the signed affidavit filed Monday, Lamb makes a number of statements, namely that he lied on the stand because he was afraid he would be charged with Carrick’s murder. Instead, his testimony led to a first-degree murder conviction for 31-year-old Mario Casciaro. Casciaro, Lamb and Carrick all worked at Val’s Foods where Carrick last was seen in December 2002. After two trials, Casciaro was convicted of first-degree murder based on intimidation for Carrick’s death and was sentenced to 26 years in prison. His case is pending an appeal. For his testimony at trial, Lamb was given full immunity from a murder charge, and a reduced sentence on a drug case. At trial, prosecutors painted Lamb as the
See RECANTS, page A6
Shane Lamb’s Sept. 12 affidavit says “as a result of making this statement and signing this affidavit, my immunity deal may be deemed null and void.” View the affidavit and a petition for Mario Casciaro’s post-conviction relief online at NWHerald.com.
Lamb’s retraction raises legal questions By CHELSEA McDOUGALL cmcdougall@shawmedia.com Legally, what’s Shane Lamb’s future now that he’s admitted to lying on the witness stand? Perjury could be the least of Lamb’s problems if prosecutors seek first-degree murder charges. Lamb said his testimony, which helped convict Mario Casciaro for the murder of 17-year-old Brian Carrick, was a lie. In a sworn statement, Lamb now says neither he nor Casciaro had anything to do with Carrick’s murder. Lamb was given complete immunity from murder charges for his testimony against Casciaro.
“I realize that as a result of making this statement and signing this affidavit, my immunity deal may be deemed null and void,” Lamb’s statement reads. “Still, I am making this statement and signing this affidavit voluntarily because I believe it is the right thing to do and because Mario is innocent and should not be sitting in jail based on my false testimony that I was forced to give in order to receive my immunity deal.” A number of things need to occur for that agreement – signed in 2010 in the presence of his attorney – to be revoked. The deal hinges on two words: truthful and testimony. Lamb now says he lied, but
See QUESTIONS, page A6
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CHICAGO – U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin and GOP challenger Jim Oberweis disagreed Monday on whether to require universal background checks for firearms purchases, with Durbin saying it would reduce violence in a country “awash in guns” and Oberweis saying he’s not convinced the checks would have the intended impact. Oberweis, an Illinois state senator and entrepreneur from Sugar Grove, is trying to unseat Durbin – the U.S. Senate’s No. 2 Democrat – in November. They met Monday before the Chicago Tribune editorial Dick Durbin board for their first joint, televised appearance of the 2014 campaign. Durbin, of Springfield, was a vocal supporter of federal legislation last year to require background checks for Jim Oberweis sales at gun shows and on the Internet – a measure supporters said would help stop criminals and people with mental health issues from g e t t i n g w e a p o n s . Election The bill, which failed Central in the U.S. Senate, was one of several Follow the introduced after a local, state and gunman killed 20 national races children and six staff at NWHerald. members at a Concom/election. necticut elementary school. Current federal law requires the checks only for firearms purchased from federally licensed firearms dealers. Illinois also requires them for private guns sales and gun shows. Durbin said Monday that extending mandatory background checks would help reduce violence in places like Chicago, where police said a recent study found 60 percent of the guns recovered in crimes came from states that have weaker gun laws, such as Indiana, Wisconsin and Mississippi. “Most responsible gun owners and sportsmen are not opposed to keeping guns out of the hands of convicted felons and mentally unstable people,” Durbin said. But Oberweis said he hasn’t seen evidence that the checks would reduce crime and that it wouldn’t stop so-called straw purchasers who buy guns and then transfer them to people who shouldn’t have them. He noted Chicago’s violence problem exists despite Illinois having some of the nation’s toughest gun laws. “I want to understand what will actually work, what isn’t just one more attempt, one more regulation that isn’t going to be effective,” Oberweis said. He also said some gun owners are afraid of the government keeping a database of people with guns. “People don’t believe the government should have access to too much information,” Oberweis said, pointing to instances of the government tracing cellphone use and messages. “That’s an area that certainly has some concern.”
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