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Lawyer is dog's best friend in U.S. attack case
ATLANTA |
ATLANTA (Reuters) - A judge in Georgia has appointed a lawyer to defend a pit bull that could be euthanized for attacking a neighbor's 5-year-old child, a court official said on Friday.
The dog's owner surrendered the animal, named Kno, to Effingham County, north of Savannah, last summer after it was accused of severely injuring the child, assistant county attorney Elizabeth Pavlis told Reuters.
Lawyer Claude Kicklighter, appointed by Superior Court Judge William Woodrum Jr to represent the dog, said he was still learning details of the case.
"All I can tell you is that the judge appointed me," he said. "I really don't know what the issues are."
Pavlis said a hearing was scheduled this month to determine whether the dog should be euthanized. Kicklighter is doing the legal work at no charge to the county.
Bruce Wagman, a San Francisco attorney specializing in animal cases, said it was unusual for judges to appoint attorneys to represent animals.
Wagman knew of only two similar cases. One involved dogs owned by NFL quarterback Michael Vick, who pleaded guilty in 2007 to charges that he participated in an interstate dog fighting enterprise.
Vick spent 19 months in federal prison and is now playing for the Philadelphia Eagles football team.
Pavlis said Woodrum was not required to appoint an attorney for the dog and did it "just to cover his bases, I would say."
(Reporting by David Beasley; Writing by Ian Simpson; Editing by Vicki Allen)
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If a piece of property that is under your control maims or kills because of you failure to control it, than you are culpable and the punishment can include removing the out of control property from you.
Since pit bull owners have to have these breeds that are capable of serious destruction to people and other animals, let’s put down some serious conditions on ownership, like special licensing requiring the owner to prove he knows how to control the dog (and in particular the dog has been trained to release and stop attacking on command), and with serious fines and jail time for violators. Have a mandatory requirement for high levels of liability insurance and limits on who can be put in control of the dog (so your ten year old daughter cannot walk them).
These dogs are extremely dangerous and society deserves to be protected from these dogs and their irresponsible owners.
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