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Will one exoneration lead to another for Prospect Heights man?

Editor's Note: This story was changed to say William Carini had previously been convicted in a bench trial, not in a jury trial.

Will a Prospect Heights man's exoneration this week for a 1991 rape near Gurnee help clear him of a double homicide committed eight years earlier?

That's what William Carini and his family hope, after a Lake County judge on Tuesday formally declared the 54-year-old innocent of assaulting a woman who had pulled over to rest while driving along the Tri-State Tollway.

The certificate of innocence issued by Judge Daniel Shanes was largely a formality since January, when Lake County State's Attorney Michael Nerheim announced he would ask a court to overturn Carini's conviction and drop the case. Nerheim said DNA tests and other evidence raised doubts about whether Carini was the assailant.

But it's not meaningless, said Carini lawyer Karl Leonard, a staff attorney for the Exoneration Project. Shales' ruling expunges all records tying Carini to the assault, and opens to door to him seeking compensation for time he spent locked up on the case.

<h3 class="leadin">On to Cook County

Could it also help Carini's ongoing legal fight to be cleared of the 1983 killings of his uncle, John Kuba of Glenview, and acquaintance Joanne Seaquist of Vernon Hills?

Carini received a life sentence after he was convicted in a bench trial of the murders in 2002. Cook County prosecutors said Carini shot Kuba, 27, in a Glenview house, then strangled Seaquist, 19, about a week later. Months after they were reported missing, their bodies were found in a storage unit rented by Carini.

Carini's mother, Ruthe Wille, helped dig up the evidence that cleared her son of the rape. Now she's focused on the murders.

"This was a long time coming," Wille, of Las Vegas, told Daily Herald Staff Writer Russell Lissau this week.

Wille maintains her son killed Kuba in self-defense, and had nothing to do with Seaquist's death. She hopes the certificate of innocence helps persuade Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx to give the Glenview slayings another look.

"He should be given a new trial so we can show he did not kill Joanne Seaquist," she said.

A hearing on Carini's petition for a new trial in Cook County is scheduled for Friday. His attorney in that case, Dan Stohr, said he is not yet ready to discuss the basis for Carini's new trial request.

Foxx's office did not respond to an inquiry Thursday.

<h3 class="leadin">Packing while plastered?

We're guessing this isn't what state lawmakers had in mind when they allowed citizens to carry concealed firearms beginning in July 2013.

A 45-year-old Libertyville man with a concealed carry permit was arrested this month after police say he was found drunk and asleep on the North Shore Bike Path with a pistol lying beneath him.

Officers called to the path at 6:30 a.m. June 11 found Thaddeus G. Sutter intoxicated while armed with a concealed weapon, Libertyville police reports state. He was released on a $1,500 recognizance bond pending a court appearance Monday.

Although Sutter has a valid forearm owners identification card in addition to his concealed carry license, state law bars someone from carrying a concealed firearm while under the influence of alcohol or drugs. He faces up to a year in jail and $2,500 fine if convicted, but it would take a second violation for him to see his concealed carry license suspended.

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Chief Cook County Judge Timothy Evans helped open a new barber school at the county's Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. The program will help juvenile offenders obtain a barber's license and find a job outside the center's walls. Courtesy of Office of the Chief Judge, Cook County circuit court

Cutting youth crime

One reason juvenile delinquents often become adult criminals is because a stay at a youth detention home can end with the young offender back in the same circumstances.

Cook County officials hope to change that for some teens through a new barber school called Standing Tall Against Recidivism Barber College at its Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. The program, which held its first classes Monday, will help juvenile offenders get the required training to obtain a barber's license, and then help them find a job.

"We must return these youngsters to the community with the tools they need," said Cook County Chief Judge Timony Evans, who was on hand for the college's opening. "And this barbershop provides a social and educational atmosphere for the students to develop life and job skills. Programs like this also offer hope - hope that the resident's current stay at the center will be the last."

The center offers about 50 programs in all, including GED preparation, a union-sponsored painter's apprentice program, reading and writing workshops, a cooking class through the University of Illinois, and gardening and horticulture classes.

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Joseph Laudicina, 32, is seeking undisclosed damages in the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court over his being shot by a Crystal Lake police officer in June 2015.

Officer of the Year sued

Crystal Lake police Officer Krzysztof Krol was named McHenry County Officer of the Year in 2016 for putting himself in danger to save a woman during a domestic assault.

Now the Addison man Krol shot and wounded in the June 2015 altercation is suing him and Crystal Lake, claiming the shooting was an unnecessary and excessive use of force.

Joseph Laudicina, 32, is seeking undisclosed damages in the suit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court. It claims Laudicina's conduct "before, during and after being shot did not warrant the amount of force used by Krol."

That conduct, police said, included breaking into the house of a family member, punching her several times, strangling her and then charging Krol with a butter knife when the officer responded to calls for help.

An Illinois State Police investigation found the shooting was justified, and Laudicina was sentenced to four years in prison after admitting to a residential burglary charge stemming from the break-in.

• Got a tip? Send an email to copsandcrime@dailyherald.com or call (847) 427-4483.

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