A former Cook County corrections officer is headed to prison for 60 years after being convicted in the 2023 killing of a north-suburban man outside the Miraj restaurant in Niles, a case that has kept neighbors talking since the night it happened in a busy parking lot.
On Wednesday, a judge handed 39-year-old Alan Kettina a 60-year term after jurors found him guilty on multiple counts tied to the fatal shooting, according to ABC7 Chicago. The conviction and sentence arrived nearly three years after the April 2023 incident.
The Niles Police Department says the shooting unfolded at about 1:03 a.m. on April 23, 2023, in the parking lot of Miraj at 8801 Milwaukee Avenue, where officers arrived to find a man suffering from at least one gunshot wound. First responders rushed him to a local hospital, according to a Niles news release. Police identified the victim as 22-year-old Mark H. Asber and said investigators worked with the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office throughout the probe.
Prosecutors told jurors that Kettina shot Asber in the back as he was walking away, and said surveillance video captured pieces of the confrontation, as previously reported by CBS Chicago. Defense attorneys countered that Asber had intimidated and threatened Kettina and his family over alleged demands that Kettina smuggle contraband into the Cook County Jail.
The Cook County Medical Examiner determined that Asber died from a gunshot wound to the chest and ruled the death a homicide, according to the Daily Herald. Those findings became part of the state’s evidence at trial.
Court record and sentencing
Court documents and coverage show Kettina was found guilty on six charges related to murder and received a 60-year sentence at Wednesday’s hearing. The ruling wraps up the criminal case in state court; any administrative or civil issues tied to his former corrections job were not addressed at sentencing.
Local context
The case drew added scrutiny because the defendant was a Cook County corrections employee at the time of the shooting. Local reporting noted that the Cook County Sheriff’s Office de-deputized Kettina after the incident and tracked the investigation, charges, and court dates that followed, as reported by the Chicago Sun-Times. Business owners and residents around the Miraj parking lot have watched the case move from arrest to arraignment to trial and, now, sentencing.
With the prison term set, the criminal side of the case is effectively closed for now. The court record and earlier coverage remain the main public window into what happened in that parking lot and how a jury saw it. Family members and neighbors have described the verdict and punishment as a significant moment of accountability for the deadly dispute that began in April 2023.
