20 years after Bartlett dad’s murder, court grants conditional release to the friend who killed him

A stay-at-home dad who embraced his role with love and pride, Jim McNally was “Mr. Mom” in his home and in the Bartlett neighborhood where he lived with his wife, Barbara and their children Shannon, Justin and Connor.

“He never met a stranger, and everyone who knew him adored him,” recalled middle child Justin McNally. “He taught us kindness, empathy and forgiveness.”

But Jim McNally was rarely mentioned Tuesday during a court hearing for the man who killed him, childhood friend James Masino.

Until Justin McNally took the witness stand at the George N. Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago.

“I am here today to speak for (my father) because he cannot speak for himself,” said 30-year-old Justin, who was 10 when his father died.

Justin McNally read a victim impact statement on behalf of himself, his mother and six other family members, who hoped to convince Cook County Judge Mariano Reyna to deny Masino's request to leave the Elgin Mental Health Center.

Masino has been at the facility, undergoing treatment for mental illness and addiction, since 2008, when another judge found him not guilty by reason of insanity in the Sept. 14, 2006, slaying of Jim McNally.

Calling it a “horrific crime,” Reyna offered condolences to the McNally family for the loss of its 44-year-old patriarch, but then agreed to release Masino with conditions.

The judge based his decision in part on the undisputed testimony of defense witnesses, including two psychiatrists who examined Masino multiple times and a social worker who interacts with him daily.

Chief among them was Dr. Mathew Markos, who has served as director of Forensic Clinical Services for the Circuit Court of Cook County for 32 years. He has met with Masino five times since February 2016, most recently in March 2026.

“Mr. Masino has made good progress with respect to his mental illness,” said Markos, a psychiatrist for 40 years who diagnosed Masino with delusional disorder persecutory type, depression and substance abuse.

Based on in-person meetings and his review of medical reports from Elgin, Markos determined Masino is stable, symptom-free and compliant with his medications and treatment plan.

Masino poses no risk to himself or others and demonstrates no risk of escape, added Markos, who testified Masino “has obtained maximum benefit from inpatient treatment.”

Markos recommended the court release Masino to a group home in Rockford operated by Stepping Stones, a mental health agency. There he will receive treatment and undergo random drug testing.

Masino will likely move there within a week. Should he regress, relapse, test positive for drugs or re-offend, his conditional release could be suspended, Markos said.

In response to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Steven Haamid's inquiry about the repercussions if Masino refuses treatment or medication, Markos testified the court would be notified and Masino's conditional release could be revoked.

On the afternoon of Sept. 14, 2006, Masino, then 43, waited in his van down the street from the McNally home. When Jim McNally left in his car, Masino followed and fired half a dozen rounds from a semiautomatic assault rifle into McNally's vehicle, killing him instantly.

During a 2008 court hearing in which Masino was found not guilty by reason of insanity, psychiatrist Dr. Peter Lourgos testified that Masino believed McNally was part of a CIA-run assassination squad that had targeted him. Masino saw killing McNally as self-defense, Lourgos said.

On Tuesday, psychiatrist Dr. Atul Sheth described Masino as one of his most stable patients.

“He does understand what he has done was wrong and has shown appropriate remorse,” Sheth said. “He wants to move on with his life but understands it comes with a lot of conditions.”

Masino lives in a minimum-security unit at Elgin and has been sober for more than 18 years, Sheth testified.

Vita Robinson, who has had daily contact with Masino as his social worker since January 2021, described him as “pretty quiet and doesn't ask for much.”

Laura Redd, Stepping Stones rehabilitation supervisor and coordinator of forensic services, said a program manager and two mental health professionals will supervise Masino and his seven housemates in Rockford. The residents receive therapy, medications, life skill training and are assigned daily tasks. They may spend up to two hours a day in the community, but there is a curfew, she said.

If a resident fails to comply with treatment or refuses to obey the rules, “the judge has the authority to revoke the conditional release,” Redd said.

Arguing for conditional release, Assistant Cook County Public Defender Mark Douglass pointed out that Masino has been compliant in every way during his time at EMHC. Haamid countered that Masino’s success in an inpatient setting means he should remain there.

Justin McNally, the prosecutors' only witness, said he worries the impulses that led Masino to kill might resurface.

“Conditional release cannot erase the risk he poses,” McNally said. “It cannot guarantee that another family won't sit where I am one day — broken, pleading for safety after it's too late.”

Judge Reyna acknowledged that his decision is not what the McNally family hoped for, but cited the agreement among the expert witnesses as to Masino's ongoing compliance.

“I'm not a fortuneteller. I cannot tell the future,” Reyna said. “I have to look at what he's done the last 18 years.

“The totality of the evidence presented today is that Mr. Masino will be successful on conditional release.”

Reyna ordered Masino to have no contact with the McNally family. He also reminded Masino that if he violates conditions, prosecutors will file a motion to revoke his release.

“The only way this is going to work is if you continue to do what you're doing,” Reyna said.

Based on the psychiatrists’ testimony, the ruling was not unexpected, Jim McNally’s widow Barbara, wrote in an email. She also expressed pride in her son and gratitude for the judge’s no-contact order.

“I would like to have heard more about his (Masino's) remorse,” she wrote. “We will see what the future holds.”

bvitello@dailyherald.com