Overdose death of potential witness is latest twist in retrial of McHenry County murder case
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| Brian Carrick |
Chicago Tribune – IL, USA
Overdose death of potential witness is latest twist in retrial of McHenry County murder case
Prosecution says it wasn’t going to call him to stand, but defense had planned subpoena; court proceedings scheduled to begin in July
By John Keilman and Amanda Marrazzo, Chicago Tribune
June 6, 2012
Robert Render’s short, troubled life ended in a halfway house last month when he died of a heroin and cocaine overdose, but he continues to cast a shadow over a McHenry County murder case that has twisted through the courts for years and is headed toward another trial this summer.
Render was once tied to the 2002 disappearance and presumed murder of Brian Carrick, 17, a co-worker at a Johnsburg grocery store whose body has never been found. Authorities in 2008 accused Render of concealing a homicide but later dropped the charge.
He remained a peripheral figure in the case that soon focused on another of Carrick’s co-workers, Mario Casciaro, who was tried earlier this year for murder. The jury deadlocked on a verdict, setting up a retrial scheduled for July.
Render, 26, did not testify in the first trial, but Casciaro’s attorney, Brian Telander, said that this time he had planned to put Render on the stand to explore why Render’s blood had been found alongside the victim’s in the grocery store’s walk-in cooler.
“It was my intention to subpoena him and call him as a witness,” Telander said. “Obviously, I have to … do some research as to whether some of his (other) statements are admissible.” (more…)
