Stay of Execution

Actually, we received a "stay of adjudication" from the prosecuting attorney's office late yesterday afternoon and it is indeed a "stay of execution."

I have an incredible story to share, but it is long and I really have to think it through how I want to write it. I want to use my experience in a positive way.

Until yesterday's minor victory this has been a gruelling, emotionally-taxing time. The long-story-short is that our German Short-haired Pointer Grendel was deemed dangerous by the city.

A neighbor's chihuahua was found gravely injured in our front yard during the same time I had lost hold of Grendel's leash while in our near-acre back yard. He took off away from our house running "free." When I returned from looking for him, I found the other dog.

Everyone--me included--thought Grendel did this. I thought so because we just had a litter of pups and the neighbor's two chihuahuas were at large everyday and often marked territory in our yard as well as other yards. They were also agressive and one had just bit our other neighbor two days before. With Grendel loose, I felt it plausible he could have come back and gotten in a fight as he could have felt protective of the puppies.

However, that was not the case. But facts became a moot point as the city's dog catcher immediately deemed Grendel dangerous. The police visited me that night and said we'd have to put Grendel down. I stood up for my dog.

You see the chihuahua owners reported the incident as a "dog attack." Never mind no one saw the alleged attack. It has been our nightmare ever since, trying to find out the truth despite the lack of investigation by the police. They even ignored neighbors who came to our dog's defense.

Did you know that if your dog is deemed dangerous, you may not get a chance to defend your dog in court? That's what happened--we were denied due process. Only upon our refusual to register our dog as dangerous did we get a court date--a jury criminal trial.

You want to hear something amazing? As I said, there was no investigation. It would be in civil court (because we got sued, too) that the other party submitted a vet report as evidence. They must not have read it--neither did our city--because it clearly ruled out that the severe trauma was due to a dog bite. We took the report to an independent vet who declared that the injuries were due to "hit by car."

Yesterday the city dropped the charges against us. There will be no jury trial next Monday and Grendel is no longer deemed dangerous and will not have to be put down. To protect themselves, the city declared a "stay of adjudication" which stipulates that Grendel not be "at large" for the next 6 months otherwise the declaration will resume. We are fine with that.

I am just now trying to digest all of this. I am relieved, sad (for our neighbor's loss), yet angry at how this all played out. Any suggestions or comments would be greatly appreciated.

Grendel gets to live and he deserves to. I am glad I stood by him. Think about how many others are also innocent but have no voice in their own defense.