A McHenry County judge has acquitted a 68-year-old man who was captured on drone video kicking a steer in the head 10 or more times at a backyard rodeo near Woodstock, ruling that the animal cruelty statute under which he was charged does not clearly define what counts as cruel treatment. Judge Justin Hansen found Socorro Barrientos not guilty, concluding that Barrientos appeared to be trying to move the animal back into a standing position rather than intending to hurt it.
The case, first reported by Chicago Sun-Times reporter Robert Herguth, stemmed from an August 16, 2025 backyard rodeo on private property in the 18000 block of Kishwaukee Valley Road near Woodstock, according to Shaw Local. McHenry County Sheriff's deputies opened an investigation after receiving drone footage secretly recorded by SHARK, short for Showing Animals Respect and Kindness, per the Sun-Times report. Drone video introduced at trial showed the steer lying just outside the corral, unable or unwilling to stand, before Barrientos delivered the kicks.
Hansen said the video showed no indication the animal was affected or bothered, and he described the kicks as not rough and involving little or no leverage. He also noted Barrientos did not use the tip of his boot. A veterinarian testified that the steer experienced harm, fear and trauma, but the judge found that testimony not particularly persuasive, saying the animal's reaction was inconsistent with harm, fear and trauma. Hansen pointed out that neither the veterinarian nor police examined the steer after the rodeo, relying instead on video of the incident.
A Judge Wrestles With a Vague Statute
Hansen said he found the decision difficult, telling the court that the actions were perhaps not very kind but were not cruel under the law as written. Illinois's Humane Care for Animals Act, in section 3.01, prohibits beating, cruelly treating, tormenting, starving, overworking or otherwise abusing an animal, and requires owners to provide veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering. But the statute does not define what cruel actually means, and Hansen said that gap left him without a clear baseline for judging Barrientos's conduct.
Barrientos's attorney, Nathan Noble, said the judge made the right decision and that the charge should not have been brought in the first place. The McHenry County State's Attorney's Office, which prosecuted the case, did not immediately return calls for comment, per the Sun-Times report.
The kicking charge stood apart from more severe allegations against other defendants tied to the same event. McHenry County prosecutors charged five participants total with Class A misdemeanor animal cruelty following the rodeo, including Barrientos, Alfredo Magallanes of Marengo, Freddy Silva of Sleepy Hollow, Alfredo Gallegos of Hampshire, and a 17-year-old from Lockport, according to Shaw Local's report from November. Criminal complaints alleged Magallanes pulled a live steer's tail with enough force to cause a degloving injury, stripping skin and hair off the tailbone, the same outlet reported. Three of the men pleaded guilty to animal cruelty charges and apologized for their conduct, saying they did not intend to hurt the steers; Hansen sentenced them to conditional discharge. The case against the Lockport minor was later dropped.
What Is Steer Tailing?
The three men who pleaded guilty were involved in a steer-tailing event at the same rodeo. Steer tailing, or coleadero, is a traditional Mexican-style rodeo discipline in which riders on horseback chase fleeing steers and wrap their tails around their boots or legs, according to Shaw Local's reporting. The practice can cause tails to tear away in a process called degloving and can break animals' legs in some cases. It is explicitly banned in Nebraska and in specific jurisdictions in California and Colorado, the outlet noted.
Jodie Wiederkehr, a Chicago resident and SHARK member, called the acquittal tragic and said kicking an animal in the face is always cruel. She told the Sun-Times she believes a dog substituted for the steer would likely have produced a different verdict. SHARK, which has criticized both Mexican-style and traditional American rodeos, has since 2022 targeted unpermitted backyard rodeos across Will, Boone, DeKalb, Ogle and McHenry counties using aerial drone cameras, per Shaw Local. Prior SHARK-documented cases in Will County led to convictions for beating a horse and using illegal electric prods on livestock, according to Animals 24-7.
Lawmakers and County Officials Keep Stalling
The Illinois General Assembly considered legislation to explicitly ban steer tailing, but the effort did not pass this year. A bill introduced in January 2025 sought to amend the Humane Care for Animals Act to outlaw the practice, but it stalled in committee amid debate over criminal penalties and agricultural exemptions, according to Capitol Fax. Lawmakers are expected to take up steer-tailing legislation again, per the Sun-Times report.
The McHenry County Board has faced the same standoff locally. On July 22, the board voted down two proposed ordinance amendments that would have defined and banned steer tailing after hours of public debate between animal welfare advocates and agricultural representatives, according to Citizen Portal. Pam Althoff said county discussions may still turn to proposed zoning restrictions, and the board is expected to revisit the issue. Short of an outright ban, the county's Zoning Board of Appeals approved changes in June tightening temporary-use permitting rules for private events like rodeos, now requiring on-site licensed veterinarians and emergency medical personnel.
Neighboring Ogle County took a more decisive step. Its county board voted in July to accept a rodeo operator's request to surrender its land-use permit, effectively ending steer-tailing competitions at that venue following public protest and litigation, Shaw Local reported. Whether McHenry County follows a similar path remains an open question as officials there continue weighing zoning tools against the limits of the state's cruelty statute.
