A judge has thrown out felony official misconduct charges against the former McHenry County coroner.
Judge Robert Wilbrandt ruled Friday that Marlene Lantz was not mandated by law to bury remains of two babies found stored in the county morgue in 2015, more than two years after Lantz retired.
Prosecutors accused Lantz, who had been coroner for more than 20 years, of failing to properly dispose of the mummified remains of a newborn baby boy. The infant had been found dead in a bathroom at a Crystal Lake restaurant in 1992 and his remains were examined by the coroner’s office.
Lantz, 68, also was charged with not properly disposing of the remains of a miscarried fetus found in the coroner’s office.
Lantz’s lawyer Jim Harrison has argued for dismissal of the charges since Lantz was indicted last year. He has maintained that, based on state law, it was the families’ responsibility to bury the remains, not Lantz’s, since the identity of both families was known.
Harrison has also asserted that the prosecutors misled the grand jury that indicted Lantz because jurors were never told the families were known to authorities.
But on Friday, Wilbrandt ruled that Lantz was under no specific legal mandate to dispose of the remains and that failing to do so was not a criminal act, according to Harrison.
“I’m very relieved for Marlene,” the lawyer said. “I think the ruling is a correct one.”
Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Combs said he did not yet know if his office would appeal the judge’s decision.
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Either way, it’s not yet over for Lantz. She still faces a forgery charge based on the allegation that she signed a death certificate for the baby found in the restaurant knowing it contained incorrect information.
Harrison said the charge is based on an “unofficial and incomplete” document that was found inside a file in the coroner’s office but was never filed.
A trial date has been set for Oct. 24 for a forgery charge.
Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter.