Nightmare on Hickory Street Murder Snitch Got 'Illegal' Plea Deal, Says Defense Attorney

The star witness in the first Nightmare on Hickory Street Murder trial was given an illegal plea deal in exchange for her testimony, an attorney claimed.

Defense lawyer Chuck Bretz was in the midst of a desperation bid to get his client, convicted killer Bethany McKee, out of serving life in prison when he made the explosive allegation.

McKee’s trial featured testimony from her childhood friend and co-defendant Alisa Massaro. Prosecutors secured Massaro’s testimony by allowing her a sweet plea deal, one which Bretz said was “illegal.”

Will County Judge Gerald Kinney “had an obligation to reject that unlawful plea deal and did not,” Bretz said while trying to convince Kinney to throw out his verdict or—failing that—give McKee a new trial.

Kinney refused to do either. In denying Bretz, he did not even acknowledge the plea he accepted from Massaro.

McKee and Massaro, both 20, along with Joshua Miner, 26, and Adam Landerman, 21, all were arrested and charged with the January 2013 murders of 22-year-olds Terrance Rankins and Eric Glover.

The four killed Rankins and Glover after Massaro and McKee lured them to Massaro’s Hickory Street nightmare house, according to police reports obtained exclusively by Patch.

Not long after Rankins and Glover arrived, Miner and Landerman strangled the two men to death, the reports said. Miner and his friends hatched the plot to murder Rankins and Glover because they were broke and wanted to buy cigarettes and alcohol, prosecutor Tricia McKenna said during McKee’s murder trial in August.

After the killings, Miner and Massaro had sex atop the dead men’s bodies.

Like McKee, Miner was found guilty of murdering both Rankins and Glover. McKee and Miner will be sentenced to life in prison for the double murder.

Landerman, the son of Joliet police Sgt. Julie Larson, remains in the Will County jail while he awaits the start of his own trial.

Massaro made out a lot better than her friends. She squirmed out of the murder case in May by copping a plea to reduced charges of robbery and concealing homicides. She was sentenced to five years in prison but will be released less than four years after striking her deal.

Massaro got the plea in exchange for agreeing to testify against her three friends. She took the stand at McKee’s trial but prosecutors didn’t even bother to call her for Miner’s.

Bretz said Massaro was the “single most unbelievable witness I’ve seen testify in any case.” He also accused prosecutors and Judge Kinney of screwing up by clearing the way for her to get a five-year sentence. Bretz claimed state law requires Massaro to serve her time for concealing homicides after finishing the robbery sentence, giving her a total of eight years.

The only way Kinney can fix things, Bretz said, is to let McKee walk free or to give her a new trial. Instead, Kinney is having McKee brought back to court Tuesday so he can send her to prison for the rest of her life.

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