Man Cleared of Rape After 25 Years Will Stay in Prison

WAUKEGAN, IL - There’s been another overturned conviction in Lake County. Charges of rape against William Carini were officially dropped in court on Tuesday, according to a Lake County News-Sun report. Carini was serving a 26-year prison sentence for the rape of an Indiana woman who was sexually assaulted while pulled over on the shoulder of the Tri-State Tollway near Gurnee in 1991.

State’s Attorney Michael Nerheim told Judge Daniel Shanes that the physical evidence collected in the case did not match Carini, and that is reason alone to at least grant a new trial.

Nerheim said he has no plans to re-try Carini, however, since the victim wishes against that possibility.
Carini won’t be released from prison as a result of the overturned conviction, however. He is imprisoned on two murder convictions he received 17 years after the deaths of his uncle John Kuba and childhood friend Joanne Seaquist. He’s been behind bars since 1992, when he was convicted of the rape from a year prior.

The Illinois State Police are expected to re-open the rape case. Carini is also appealing the two murder convictions, claiming he was wrongfully convicted in those as well.

The overturned sentence marked the seventh rape or murder conviction in Lake County to be overthrown from the 22-year tenure of former Lake County State’s Attorney Michael Waller.

More via the Lake County News-Sun