What trial strategy do you suppose exists when a person is charged with five counts of murder and one count of concealment of a body and then, on the opening day of jury selection, the State's Attorney's office drops three murder counts and the concealment charge?
Mario Casciaro has been out of jail on a $5,000,000 bond. He was bailed out when 10% was posted; that's $500,000. (And, of that, 10% ($50,000) was instantly scarfed up by the Circuit Clerk's office on behalf of the court system, as a non-refundable fee; that ought to keep some lights on for a while.)
Would his bond have been less, if only two counts of murder had been filed in the first place?
And I've always wondered how you charge someone with five counts of murder, when only one death is involved.
So, is it a game that prosecutors play to load up a defendant with serious charges and then drop some of the charges before a trial ever starts?
Jury selection wasn't even completed yesterday, and already the State has dropped four charges. Does this bode ill for their entire prosecution?
Frankly, I've always wondered about the charge, since the indictment alleged that Casciaro "or someone for whose conduct he was legally accountable" killed Brian Carrick in 2002.
Casciaro's attorneys are Brian Telander and William Gibbs.
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