Key witness said he and accused murderer never planned to kill Johnsburg teen
BY DAN ROZEK Staff Reporter/drozek@suntimes.com January 26, 2012 1:21PM
Mario Casciaro
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Updated: February 28, 2012 8:11AM
Mario Casciaro called him to help collect a drug debt from Brian Carrick, but didn’t tell him to harm the Johnsburg teenager, Shane Lamb testified Thursday.
Lamb — a critical witness in Casciaro’s McHenry County murder trial — admitted he punched the 17-year-old Carrick unconscious because he lost his temper as they argued in a grocery store cooler over the drug debt.
“I just lost my temper and I hit him one or two times,” said Lamb, a convicted felon who is testifying for prosecutors under an agreement that bars him from being charged in Carrick’s disappearance and presumed death.
Carrick vanished on Dec. 20, 2002, from the Johnsburg grocery store where he worked with Lamb and Casciaro. The teen’s body has never been found.
Casciaro is charged with murder, accused of causing Carrick’s death as he tried to collect money Carrick owed him for marijuana.
Lamb — whose deal with prosecutors has him serving a six-year prison sentence for a drug deal — said Casciaro called him to the store that day to help collect the money from Carrick.
“If he hadn’t called me, I wouldn’t be there,” said Lamb, who prosecutors have described as “the muscle” of Casciaro’s attempt to collect money from Carrick.
Lamb, who is six feet tall and weighs about 240 pounds, said Carrick fell “straight back” after he punched him in the face.
“I thought I just knocked him out. I knocked out a lot of people,” said Lamb, who described Carrick as “a skinny kid” who was 5 feet 9 inches tall.
As Carrick lay bleeding on the cooler floor, Lamb said Casciaro ordered him from the room.
“Mario grabbed me and said, ‘Get out of here,’” Lamb testified Thursday.
“Do you know where Brian Carrick is?” prosecutor Michael Combs said.
“No,” Lamb replied.
Questioned by Casciaro attorney Brian Telander, Lamb admitted lying repeatedly about Carrick’s disappearance, including telling a grand jury in 2007 that he knew nothing about the teen’s disappearance.
“I wasn’t going to admit to anything that might get me in trouble,” Lamb said.
And Lamb acknowledged Casciaro never ordered him to punch or hurt Carrick.
“It was you that made the decision to start hitting him?” Telander asked.
“Correct,” Lamb replied.
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