There doesn’t seem to be much debate over whether 68-year-old Socorro Barrientos repeatedly kicked a steer in its head last year at a backyard rodeo in the far northwest suburbs, which led to an animal cruelty charge against him.Instead, in explaining a not guilty verdict rendered last week in Ba rrientos’ case, McHenry County Judge Justin Hansen focused heavily on how the kicks landed and were delivered, with drone video showing the steer lying just outside the corral unable, or unwilling, to stand up as a foot came down 10 or more times.While saying he “found this decision to be difficult” — and noting that Barrientos’ behavior was “perhaps not very kind” — Hansen said: “I do not find it to be cruel” through his analysis.The defendant’s intent did not appear to be “to injure the cow or inflict pain or suffering,” Hansen said Thursday in a Woodstock courtroom. “I think he made an effort to move a cow back into the standing position.”Hansen said Barrientos didn’t use the “tip of his boot” to kick the animal and “this action by the defendant appears to be one with little or no leverage.”Had Barrientos been facing “the cow and stood with leverage on one foot and then reared back” as if he was “kicking a football,” that would’ve been “a very different maneuver,” Hansen said.“There’s no indication the animal is affected or bothered” by what happened, as the “video does not show” the animal “expressing any reaction.”Hansen also said of a veterinarian who had testified that the steer experienced “harm, fear and trauma” and endured “rough” kicks: “I think the doctor means well,” but he didn’t find her “to be particularly persuasive.” McHenry County Judge Justin Hansencity of Crystal Lake “I didn’t find” the kicks “to be rough,” Hansen said, adding: “The animal’s reaction did not seem consistent with harm, fear and trauma.”He said there was no evidence she or police examined the steer after the rodeo, but rather they relied on the video.Section 3.01 of the state’s Humane Care for Animals Act deals with “cruel treatment,” saying in part: “No person or owner may beat, cruelly treat, torment, starve, overwork or otherwise abuse any animal.”But Hansen said “there’s not a clear definition that sort of sets the baseline for what constitutes cruel treatment of an animal.”“‘Cruel’ isn’t set in the statute.”Nathan Noble, Barrientos’ attorney, said: “The judge made the right decision. It’s unfortunate that this was even charged in the first place.”The McHenry County state’s attorney’s office, which prosecuted the case, didn’t immediately return calls for comment.Chicago resident Jodie Wiederkehr of the animal rights group SHARK described the ruling as “tragic” and said “kicking an animal in the face is always going to be cruel.”“If you substituted” the steer “for a dog I’m sure the verdict would be different.”The acquittal came a week after three other men from the same Woodstock area rodeo were sentenced by Hansen to conditional discharge, similar to probation, for ripping the tails from steers during an event and likewise facing animal cruelty charges. The McHenry County property where a backyard rodeo was held last year that led to criminal charges against several men, including Socorro BarrientosRobert Herguth / Sun-Times Called steer tailing, that event involves men on horseback chasing down fleeing steers, grabbing their tails and wrapping them around their boots or legs until they tumble. Sometimes the practice results in “degloving,” with the tails tearing away. The animals can be hurt in other ways. In some instances they suffer broken legs. Those three men pleaded guilty, apologized and said they didn’t intend to hurt the steers.A fifth person, a minor from Lockport, was initially cited, but that case was later dropped.All of the charges were based at least in part on drone video secretly taken by SHARK, which stands for Showing Animals Respect and Kindness and has been critical of Mexican-style and traditional American rodeos for years.The Humane Care for Animals Act not only criminalizes direct mistreatment of pets and livestock, it also requires animal owners to provide “veterinary care when needed to prevent suffering.”There’s been concern among some animal advocates that the law is too vague to consistently stop rodeo events such as steer tailing, so legislation has been proposed in the Illinois General Assembly and on the McHenry County Board to explicitly ban the practice.Neither measure passed this year, but both legislative bodies are expected to discuss the subject again, though in McHenry County, board member Pam Althoff said that may involve proposed zoning restrictions. Related Suburban backyard rodeos under fire, with steers knocked down, sometimes stripped of their tails ...read more read less