Texas Woman Sentenced in Fatal Dog Attack
December 2009: A Luling woman whose 2-year-old son was killed by a dog in March was sentenced to two years in a state jail.
Tyson Miller, Melissa Miller’s son, was found March 26 mauled to death by a dog chained up in her backyard. An autopsy showed that the boy suffered significant trauma to his head and neck that caused him to bleed to death. The dog was later destroyed.
Miller, 24, and other adults in the trailer did not notice that the boy had been missing until they woke up after noon, she told detectives in the case. She said she had walked her daughter, then 6 years old, to the bus stop and went back to sleep, according to officials.
The day of her original sentencing, Nov. 12, Judge Todd Blomerth ordered Miller to take a drug test, which she failed. She admitted to smoking marijuana the day before and was immediately detained for violating the agreement she made while on pretrial release.
Miller pleaded no contest to criminally negligent homicide in September. The state agreed to dismiss a charge of injury to a child.
Caldwell County District Attorney Trey Hicks asked the judge to sentence Miller to the maximum penalty of two years in a state jail. Miller will not be eligible for parole, he said.
“While this was a tragic accident, this was also totally avoidable,” Hicks said in a telephone interview. “Anyone who raises children and has a toddler in the house, then you don’t have the luxury of sleeping past noon. Justice was served for Tyson.”
Matt Jones, Miller’s attorney, could not be reached for comment.
Miller’s daughter, who is now 7, is staying with a grandmother in Williamson County, Hicks said. A case has been opened by Texas Department of Family and Protective Services
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Panicky police officer fires into group of neighbors, wounds playful dog and bystander
On Wednesday evening, October 7, 2009, at around 7:15 p.m., a La Marque, Texas police officer opened fire in a residential neighborhood, attempting to kill a dog that was playing with a group of young residents. One of her five shots passed through the dog and struck a 23-year-old bystander in the chest. Both the dog, reported to be a pit bull named Sugar, and the young female bystander are expected to survive.
According to published reports, the officer, who had been on the force for less than a year, was on her way to an unrelated call when she saw the pit bull dog jumping and playing with a group of neighbors. Identifying the dog as a pit bull and then conjuring up in her imagination the myths and urban legends that have been tattooed on those dogs, she pulled her weapon and fired at the dog as it was circling amidst its human playmates.
One witness told reporters that the panicked, out-of-control officer fired five shots before order was restored.
The injured young woman will not undergo surgery. The shrapnel from the officer’s bullet will remain in her body. The Galveston County District Attorney’s Office is investigating. The victim’s family says they haven’t decided whether or not they’ll take legal action.
NCRC COMMENT: It is hard to imagine this happening if the dog had been a Golden Retriever. In La Marque not only is it not safe to be a pit bull, it isn’t safe to stand near one!
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The State of Texas v. A Very Good American Pit Bull Terrier Owner
Zandra Anderson, www.TexasDogLawyer.com
August 19, 2009- Today I was set for trial in a case that is the worst nightmare for any owner of an American Pit Bull Terrier or other large dog. Here’s how this tale transpired:
On February 11, 2009, David was walking his American Pit Bull Terrier on a six foot leash as he dutifully does three times per day. Yes, three. Pica is nine years old and had been rescued as a puppy and taken in by David and his wife. She is spayed and lives in their house in an upscale neighborho od as a beloved family member. David has a managerial position in a petro-chemical company and has been employed in this sort of work for twenty-five years. His wife manages a boarding kennel.
While David was walking their family pet by his side, a loose dog came out of nowhere from behind them without warning and promptly bit Pica in the face. It happened fast. Pica responded and grabbed the dog’s ear. She did not shake the dog or bite elsewhere but hung on briefly. David recognized the dog, a Shih Tzu that frequently ran loose, and called for the owner to come get her dog. She lived a couple of doors down from where the incident occurred. Another neighbor comes out with a gun and points it at David admonishing him that if Pica did not let go of the other dog he was going to shoot Pica and then her owner.
Pica relinquished the other dog and it had a puncture to the ear but fortunately the ear was okay as was the dog. David was upset, not because the little dog was running loose again, but because he just had a loaded gun pointed at him and his dog. So, he called the police.
David’s wife took Pica to the vet because the extra eyelid on the dog was shutting and it appeared she had been scratched in the eye. An eye stain was done and antibiotics prescribed for her eye.
Guess what happened? If you guessed that nothing happened to the owner of the Shih Tzu that was running loose, you would be right. If you guessed that nothing happened to the neighbor that came out with a loaded gun, you would be right. And if you guessed that Pica and David got blamed for this, you would also be right. David was charged with failure to control/restrain his dog. The owner of the Shih Tzu lied and said her dog was not loose and regardless that it was David who called the20police, he was the one who got charged with the Class C Misdemeanor.
So today the trial was set and I had the honor of representing20Pica and her owner. Fortunately, the case was dismissed because the state failed to produce its witness, the owner of the Shih Tzu, but we were prepared to go to trial. A wonderful neighbor who happens to be a groomer came to court to testify that she had seen the little dog out numerous times, at least ten, and had even taken the dog back to its owner shortly before this happened. I had a trial notebook, there were motions, there was investigation, pictures of Pica, and even a subpoena for the 9-1-1 call. We even had Pica’s leash and collar, worn from use, in the courtroom. This was the lengths we were prepared to go to vindicate David and Pica, but it went much further than that.
We felt like we had to stand up for the breed and every owner of these fine dogs who get falsely blamed for all sorts of things. Would it have been easier and cheaper to pay the $160 fine? Sure, but one more owner and his dog would have paid a price for something that they did not do. Three people (David, his wife and their neighbor) took off work to come to court today and set the record straight. Three people stood up a nd fought back so that the reputation of the American Pit Bull Terrier and other similar dogs would not be furt her tarnished today. Today was a good day for the dogs. So many aren’t, but today there was justice.
Finally, as owners of these dogs and other big dogs, we have to be vigilant to always make sure our dogs are properly contained, leashed and socialized. There is zero tolerance for our dogs, and sometimes, even when we do everything right, we still can be falsely accused. And if that happens, we have to be willing to stand up and fight for our rights as dog owners and for the good pitties that so many of know and love. Tonight I will hug mine extra close before we fall to sleep.
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March 28, 2009: Texas Attorney General declines to proceed with opinion on breed-specific legislation
In November, 2008, outgoing State Rep. Tony Goolsby asked Attorney General Greg Abbott to issue an opinion regarding whether or not Breed-Specific Legislation actually is legal in Texas. The 10-term Dallas Republican, who was defeated by Democrat Carol Kent, wrote in his letter that “Numerous cities and counties have expressed a desire to enact municipal ordinances to ban or regulate breed specific dogs primarily Pit Bulls, Rottweilers, German Shepherds and Doberman Pinchers [sic].”
On February 20, 2009, Greg Abbot’s office notified Rep. Charlie Geren (R-River Oaks), Goolsby’s successor as Chair of the Committee on House Administration, that unless Geren asked Abbot’s office to proceed with the request for opinion by March 23, Abbot’s office “would consider the request withdrawn and not issue a written opinion.”
A letter from Abbot’s office dated March 24, 2009 indicates that Abbot’s Opinion Committee did not receive a letter or e-mail from Geren’s office.
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On Friday, November 14, 2008, Texas state investigators broke up one of the largest dogfighting rings in the country. A grand jury has indicted 55 persons in connection with this bust.
The Houston Chronicle reported story below on January 27, 2009:
Harris County district attorney tackles dogfighting
Harris county district Attorney Pat Lykos has beefed up animal cruelty enforcement in her office, announcing Monday the creation of a unit that will target dogfighters and those who treat pets inhumanely.
She appointed Assistant District Attorney Belinda Smith as the animal cruelty section’s chief. Another prosecutor will assist here, along with an investigator who will help build cases for them.
The unit began its work Monday when Lykos and Smith announced that it would try to learn the identities of dog fight owners who have been dumping carcasses — losers in the matches on which spectators often bet — in a wooded area in northeast Houston.
Earlier this month, Smith and others from the animal cruelty section found about six carcasses in bags in woods west of the Eastex Freeway behind a Sak N Save, Lykos said. Pet owners have also been known to abandon unwanted dogs there.
“They dump injured dogs and dead dogs,” Lykos said. “This will no longer be a cemetery for dead dogs.”
Under former District Attorney Rosenthal regime only one prosecutor — Smith — was assigned to animal cases.
Increasing staff personnel and creating a new unit shows that Lykos is “committed to prosecuting these cases,” Smith said.
[NCRC -- We hope so. We also hope that Harris County officials adopt a different attitude toward the victims of such crimes -- the dogs. Despite offers from rescue groups in the area to take dogs to safety, published reports indicate that all of the animals seized in the Harris County bust were killed.]
National Canine Research Council