McHenry Candidate Accused Of Leaving Headless Duck On Woman’s Porch

MCHENRY COUNTY, IL — Fake blood, a headless duck and false accusations are at the heart of a no-contact order given to a circuit court candidate in a northwest Chicago suburb last week.

McHenry County judicial candidate Mary McClellan was ordered to have no contact and remain 200 feet from the McHenry County’s risk management coordinator and her daughter, according to a judicial order filed Oct. 25.

In the petition, Lisa Shamhart, the risk management coordinator, alleged she was babysitting her grandchildren on Oct. 5 when, around 10:45 p.m., "we heard something hit the front door. It turned out to be fake blood." On Oct. 15, she said, "we found a beheaded duck on the front porch. Mary and her husband Ed Gil are well-known bird hunters."

Shamhart’s petition contends that McClellan contacted her boss Oct. 3 "making false accusations against me, which resulted in a two-day suspension."

Reached by phone, Shamhart said she had "no clue" why these actions were done, and declined to comment further.

McClellan, who served as the county’s clerk from 2014 to 2018, has sought a circuit court position once before.

She has been accused of threats and retaliation before as well — in March 2018, the county auditor said McClellan fired her sister as retaliation when she rejected the approval of $675 worth of jackets McClellan bought for her staff. McClellan said the firing was legitimate and not done out of retaliation.

McClellan did not respond to a request for comment. She denied the allegations to the Northwest Herald, calling the judge’s order an attempt to interfere with her judicial candidacy. She said she believes the order is retaliation for a civil petition she filed over comments on a local blog about a claim by her husband seeking worker’s compensation.

McClellan told the Herald that she does hunt, but wouldn’t have left a dead duck on Shamhart’s doorstep.

"I don’t hunt duck, I hunt pheasants," she said.

A hearing related to the no-contact order has been scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 15.

By John Seasly

From Injustice Watch

Injustice Watch is a non-partisan, not-for-profit, multimedia journalism organization that conducts in-depth research exposing institutional failures that obstruct justice and equality. For more stories from Injustice Watch, visit InjusticeWatch.org.