Post by RealPitBull on Feb 7, 2008 11:35:00 GMT -5
Judge gives 11 fighting pit bulls temporary reprieve
Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 7, 2008
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Print Reprints Post comment Text size: TAVARES - They are dead dogs walking.
But the 11 scarred pit bulls, seized last month as combatants in a suspected Yalaha dog-fighting ring, won a temporary reprieve from a judge who had condemned them as dangerous animals unlikely to be retrained.
Circuit Judge Mark Hill issued the stays of execution after weighing concerns from Assistant Public Defender Vivionne Terrell, the lawyer representing cousins Bruce and Nathaniel Warren, who are charged with training the dogs for illegal sport.
Terrell filed the unusual motion, opposing a prosecutor's request to euthanize the dogs. She argued that putting the muscular canines to sleep would be the same as destroying evidence.
That claim has raised the state's fur.
Assistant State Attorney Christine Manno sought permission to euthanize the dogs at the urging of Lake County Animal Services Director Marjorie Boyd, who regards the animals as dangerous and unadoptable.
"We're not dog whisperers," Boyd said. "We can't rehabilitate them."
The dogs, each caged alone, lunge open-jawed at shelter staff and visitors who approach their pens, startling even Boyd with their aggression. She said the shelter veterinarian has refused to examine them.
Boyd also said the suspected fighters -- and nine other pit bulls taken from a neighboring home in Yalaha -- have occupied 20 of the shelter's 48 pens for about three weeks, causing a shortage of space for strays.
The space crunch has forced Boyd to shorten the length of time she holds abandoned animals.
Boyd said she sought the euthanasia order because of the dogs' demeanor, not their breed. Calmer dogs of the same breed are awaiting adoption at the shelter, which euthanized about 12,000 unwanted dogs last year.
Officials seized six docile pit-bull puppies during the search of the cousins' home, but they do not face the same fate as their elders. They share the same pen at the shelter and often nap, cuddling against one another.
Boyd said she thinks they can be retrained and can become "loving house pets."
But investigators say the death-row dogs were taught to fight fiercely, judging by the deep scars and healing wounds on their ears, faces, chests and paws. They were chained to a car, tree and body-building weights at the Warrens' home in Yalaha, where deputies also found an illustrated book called The History of Dog-Fighting and a periodical, Pit Bull Reporter.
The cousins contend the dogs do not belong to them.
No one else has stepped forward to claim the dogs.
Supervising Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie bristled at the defense suggestion that prosecutors tried to "malign" the Warrens' due-process rights by disposing of animals housed at taxpayer expense.
The animals were photographed and their images preserved.
Forgie noted that prosecutors and investigators don't have the space to keep every piece of evidence confiscated in criminal investigations.
When the Warrens' lawyer sought a ruling from the 5th District Court of Appeal to halt the dogs' executions, Hill issued his own stay -- directing the Public Defender's Office to visit the shelter to inspect the animals.
"And if they want to go into the cages with the animals, I'll be more than happy to let them go in -- OK-- so they can determine for themselves whether or not the animals are dangerous," Hill said. "That should be interesting."
Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.
Stephen Hudak | Sentinel Staff Writer
February 7, 2008
Article tools
E-mail Share
Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Fark Google Newsvine Reddit
Print Reprints Post comment Text size: TAVARES - They are dead dogs walking.But the 11 scarred pit bulls, seized last month as combatants in a suspected Yalaha dog-fighting ring, won a temporary reprieve from a judge who had condemned them as dangerous animals unlikely to be retrained.
Circuit Judge Mark Hill issued the stays of execution after weighing concerns from Assistant Public Defender Vivionne Terrell, the lawyer representing cousins Bruce and Nathaniel Warren, who are charged with training the dogs for illegal sport.
Terrell filed the unusual motion, opposing a prosecutor's request to euthanize the dogs. She argued that putting the muscular canines to sleep would be the same as destroying evidence.
That claim has raised the state's fur.
Assistant State Attorney Christine Manno sought permission to euthanize the dogs at the urging of Lake County Animal Services Director Marjorie Boyd, who regards the animals as dangerous and unadoptable.
"We're not dog whisperers," Boyd said. "We can't rehabilitate them."
The dogs, each caged alone, lunge open-jawed at shelter staff and visitors who approach their pens, startling even Boyd with their aggression. She said the shelter veterinarian has refused to examine them.
Boyd also said the suspected fighters -- and nine other pit bulls taken from a neighboring home in Yalaha -- have occupied 20 of the shelter's 48 pens for about three weeks, causing a shortage of space for strays.
The space crunch has forced Boyd to shorten the length of time she holds abandoned animals.
Boyd said she sought the euthanasia order because of the dogs' demeanor, not their breed. Calmer dogs of the same breed are awaiting adoption at the shelter, which euthanized about 12,000 unwanted dogs last year.
Officials seized six docile pit-bull puppies during the search of the cousins' home, but they do not face the same fate as their elders. They share the same pen at the shelter and often nap, cuddling against one another.
Boyd said she thinks they can be retrained and can become "loving house pets."
But investigators say the death-row dogs were taught to fight fiercely, judging by the deep scars and healing wounds on their ears, faces, chests and paws. They were chained to a car, tree and body-building weights at the Warrens' home in Yalaha, where deputies also found an illustrated book called The History of Dog-Fighting and a periodical, Pit Bull Reporter.
The cousins contend the dogs do not belong to them.
No one else has stepped forward to claim the dogs.
Supervising Assistant State Attorney Walter Forgie bristled at the defense suggestion that prosecutors tried to "malign" the Warrens' due-process rights by disposing of animals housed at taxpayer expense.
The animals were photographed and their images preserved.
Forgie noted that prosecutors and investigators don't have the space to keep every piece of evidence confiscated in criminal investigations.
When the Warrens' lawyer sought a ruling from the 5th District Court of Appeal to halt the dogs' executions, Hill issued his own stay -- directing the Public Defender's Office to visit the shelter to inspect the animals.
"And if they want to go into the cages with the animals, I'll be more than happy to let them go in -- OK-- so they can determine for themselves whether or not the animals are dangerous," Hill said. "That should be interesting."
Stephen Hudak can be reached at shudak@orlandosentinel.com or 352-742-5930.
I look forward to learning much here