1991 rape charges dropped in Lake County
A previous version of this report mistakenly said William Carini was from Gurnee.
Lake County prosecutors on Tuesday made official their decision to drop rape charges, rather than grant a new trial, to a man already serving a life prison sentence for two murder convictions in Cook County.
In a rare court appearance, State's Attorney Michael Nerheim told Judge Daniel Shanes that a review of the case and DNA testing showed evidence that could have resulted in a new trial for 54-year-old William Carini, formerly of Prospect Heights.
Carini was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault in 1991 and sentenced to 26 years in prison.
Shanes vacated Carini's rape conviction, at which point Nerheim dropped the charges.
"It has always been our job to seek justice," Nerheim said. "That doesn't end at conviction."
It marks the seventh conviction overturned in Lake County since 2010. All of the convictions occurred under the previous state's attorney, Michael Waller.
Murder cases against Jerry Hobbs, Juan Rivera, Jason Strong and James Edwards, and rape convictions against Bennie Starks and Angel Gonzalez have been overturned. Hobbs, Rivera, Strong, Starks and Gonzalez have been released from prison, but Edwards remains incarcerated on other charges.
Since taking office in 2012, Nerheim has reversed the convictions of Strong, Starks and Gonzalez in addition to Carini.
The rape Carini was accused of occurred on the shoulder of the Tri-State Tollway in June 1991 near Gurnee, authorities said. The victim had stopped to rest while driving to Indiana from Wisconsin, when a man with a knife entered her car and attacked her.
The victim later identified Carini as her attacker. He was convicted, even though no physical evidence tied him to the crime and he gave no statement, Nerheim said.
Carini's mother, Ruthe Wille, flew in from Las Vegas to attend Tuesday's hearing. She said that in 2012, she asked Undersheriff Raymond Rose to review the case, and Rose put her in touch with Nerheim.
"I am so excited. I wish I could call him (Carini) up and talk with him," Wille said. "I just hope now that Mr. Nerheim will contact Cook County and they'll take another look at that conviction."
Defense attorney Greg Nikitas said "ultimately the system worked because of good people."
"It shows what a conviction integrity unit can accomplish," Nikitas said after the hearing.
However, Carini isn't due to be released from prison anytime soon. He is serving a life sentence at the Pontiac Correctional Center for killing two people years before the rape, authorities said.
In 2002, Carini was convicted of the 1983 killings of his uncle, John Kuba of Glenview, and 19-year-old acquaintance Joanne Seaquist of Vernon Hills.
Prosecutors say Carini shot Kuba in the Glenview home they shared and strangled Seaquist about a week later. Months after they were reported missing, their bodies were found in the trunk of Kuba's car in a storage locker Carini rented near Glenview.
Carini initially was convicted in 1985 of concealing the homicides and served three years in prison. He was charged with the murders in 1999 after a new witness came forward.