Attorney: Charges against ex-McHenry coroner 'political payback'
The defense attorney for former McHenry County coroner Marlene A. Lantz is calling felony misconduct and forgery charges against her nothing more than "political payback" for criticizing State's Attorney Lou Bianchi in the past and supporting his opponents.
"It is so obvious it is a political payback given the history between the state's attorney and Marlene," attorney Mark Gummerson said Friday.
Lantz, 68, of McHenry, was indicted by a grand jury this week and accused of failing to dispose of remains of a dead baby while in office from March 1992 to November 2012 and then falsifying documents about it.
Bianchi said he could not comment on the specifics of the case, such as the baby's age and when the body was found, but he disagreed with Gummerson's assessment.
"This indictment against Marlene has nothing to do with politics. It's all about justice," Bianchi said. "It's about a baby not having an appropriate burial and her falsifying a death certificate."
Michael Combs, chief of the McHenry County state's attorney's office's criminal division, had no comment Friday.
A grand jury Thursday issued a three-count indictment of Lantz - who served as coroner from 1998 through 2012 - and she was arrested at her McHenry home.
The indictment accuses Lantz of failing to bury, cremate or donate to science the body of "Baby Reinert," also known as "Baby Doe" between March 12, 1992, and Nov. 20, 2012, which was Lantz' last day in office.
The indictment also accuses Lantz on July 29, 1997, of knowingly falsifying a death certificate for the baby in saying the body was buried and the baby's mother was unknown.
Lantz was critical of Bianchi when he was indicted in 2010 on misconduct charges that he was later found not guilty of.
She also was a supporter of former Sheriff Keith Nygren and supported Jim Harrison, an independent candidate for sheriff, who lost the November election to Bill Prim.
Prim was supported by Bianchi in that race.
Gummerson declined to elaborate on how Lantz was doing in the wake of the arrest but said she would fight the charges.
"This is just a travesty and we will defend it (the case) zealously," Gummerson said.
Lantz is free on bond and due in court March 11.
If convicted, she faces anywhere from probation to five years in prison.