Former Fox Lake resident released from prison
A former Fox Lake resident who had been serving a 26-year prison sentence for murder is now a free man, ABC 7 reported on its website Wednesday night.
Mario Casciaro, 31, walked out of the downstate Menard Correctional Center on Wednesday afternoon, the report said.
Last week, an appellate court overturned Casciaro's murder conviction in the death of Brian Carrick, a Johnsburg teen who disappeared in December 2002.
Casciaro's first trial resulted in a hung jury. He was convicted in a second trial in 2013.
Prosecutors maintain that Carrick, 17, owed Casciaro money for drugs and that Casciaro and a man named Shane Lamb brought Carrick into a grocery store produce cooler to scare him into paying.
Lamb testified that he lost his temper, punched Carrick — who fell straight back — and was told by Casciaro to leave.
Carrick's body has not been found.
The appellate court panel said testimony from Lamb — who is now serving a 26-year prison term for burglary — was unreliable and inconsistent with physical evidence.
McHenry County prosecutors have said they would appeal the ruling to the Illinois Supreme Court.
• Daily Herald staff writer Harry Hitzeman contributed to this report.