Posted on May 19, 2008 by Colleen Lynn

Owners Charged under Texas Felony Dog Attack Statute

Tanner Joshua Monk, 7-years old, was killed by four pit bulls belonging to his neighbors.

Owners Receive 7 Years
UPDATE 10/11/08: Both defendants were sentenced to seven years in prison in connection to the mauling death 7-year old Tanner Joshua Monk. Crystal Watson sobbed, "I wish I could go back to that day; I wished I’d never left." Jack Wayne Smith said, "I would trade places with that young boy anytime or with any child." His statement is hardly believable and is at odds to the day of the fatal attack, when deputies testified that Smith cared more about his dead dogs than the dead boy.

The sentence resulted from a Texas law passed in September 2007. Watson and Smith are the first to be tried under this law, which holds dog owners to a higher degree of responsibility for their animals.

The law mandates dog owners face increased jail time when their animals cause injury or death. - C.T. Hunnewell, Times Record News, October 11, 2008

10/10/08: Swift Justice in Texas
The Young County jury deliberated less than 1 hour before returning a guilty verdict in a precedent-setting trial of the owners of four pit bulls that attacked and killed 7-year old Tanner Monk of Breckenridge. Defendants Jack Smith and Crystal Watson of Breckenridge were found guilty of attack by dog resulting in death. The crime is a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The punishment phase begins the morning.

10/09/08: Trial Testimony Ends
Both sides rested after a second day of testimony in the state’s first trial under Lillian's Law. Witnesses included Eastland, Texas, residents who were familiar with one of the four pit bulls that fatally attacked the 7-year old boy. Earl Trout recalled how one dog involved in the attack, name Sun, once knocked him down. Though the dog didn’t bite him, the fall required stitches on one arm. "The good Lord was with me," Trout said during testimony. "I crawled 35 feet to get away."

Leon Lake resident, Yvonne Blankenship, testified how the same dog had attacked other dogs and killed her Jack Russell terrier. Other witnesses included forensic experts from the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. Roger Metcalfe, a forensic dentist, called the attack of the boy "one of the most awful things I’d ever seen in an autopsy." He described the horrible wounds on Tanner's head, neck and shoulders, as well as the claw marks and scratches found all over his body.

The first authorities to arrive on scene were Stephens County Sheriff’s deputies Caleb Hodges and Adam Babylon. They quickly shot two aggressive pit bulls. The deputies testified that the defendant, Jack Wayne Smith, approached the scene from a nearby driveway accompanied by two pit bulls and asked the deputies why they had just killed two his pit bulls. "We told him there was small boy who’d been killed," Hodges testified. "He said 'Oh,' and walked back to his house."

10/07/08: Jury Seated in Fatal Attack Trial
A 10-woman, two-man jury has been seated, and testimony has begun in the fatal dog mauling trial of Tanner Joshua Monk. Though the case originated in Stephens County, it was moved to Young County as a result of pretrial publicity. Due to the widespread interest in the case, Young County Sheriff Bryan Walls said his office, in conjunction with the Stephens County Sheriff's Office, would be providing tight security during the trial. The criminal trial is expected to last all week.

10/04/08: Last Ditch Efforts By Defense
Breckenridge, TX -The trial of a Breckenridge couple accused of owning two pit bulls that brutally killed 7-year old Tanner Joshua Monk back in May will continue as planned, despite efforts by their defense attorney to delay proceedings. Jury selection will begin Monday for Jack Smith, 45, and Crystal Watson, 27, who are each charged with felony dog attack resulting in death. Monk was found dead on May 18 on County Road 415, about 50 to 70 west of where the pit bulls were kept.

5/19/08: Boy Killed by Multiple Pit Bulls
Breckenridge, TX - A 7-year old boy is dead after being attacked by dogs, according to the Stephens County Sheriff's Office. A woman driving her car saw Tanner Joshua Monk lying next to the road near Hubbard Lake with two pit bull hovering nearby. She stopped to check on the child, Sheriff Jim Reeves said. When she exited her car, the dogs became aggressive, he said. The dogs were also aggressive toward the two responding deputies; they shot and killed both dogs.

The deputies found the boy dead, Reeves said. The two shot pit bulls, along with two other pit bulls belonging to the same home, were taken into custody by authorities. The dogs belonged to a neighbor of the child's family, according to Reeves. An autopsy will be conducted on the boy and tests will be performed on the seized dogs. Reeves said evidence will be presented to a grand jury following the autopsy and tests. There were no witnesses to the attack. Tanner died all alone.

Posted on May 17, 2008 by Colleen Lynn

Fatal Dog Mauling of Julian Slack Brings Back Bad Memories

Lejeune's Policy Questioned
Camp Lejeune, NC - DogsBite.org pointed out the policy issue last week. In 2007, the Marine Corps was sued for 5 million dollars after a dog viciously attacked a young girl living at Camp Lejeune in 2005. The organization has done nothing in this 3-year time frame to enact policy to prevent a future tragedy. Likely as a result, Lejeune is now faced with a fatality.

Last week, 3-year-old Julian Slack bled to death on the way to the hospital after being bitten multiple times by a pit bull. The boy was at home with a babysitter when a civilian friend of the family brought the pit bull to the house. 1st Lt. Philip Klay, spokesman for 2nd Marine Logistics Group, said they are still investigating the incident.

Amy Gaston -- who filed the $5 million lawsuit against the Marine Corps -- said that hearing about the recent pit bull attack brought her back to when her daughter was nearly killed. "I can't believe it is happening again," she said. Her daughter was attacked by a rottweiler that got loose from a nearby fenced yard. She was bitten on the face and neck and half her ear was torn off.

Her daughter has since been through two and a half years of therapy. She is doing better now, but Gaston fears she will never be the same. The girl has been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and still has nightmares, according to the civil suit. Gaston now lives in Upper Marlboro, MD, and filed the lawsuit in U.S. district court there.

Washington, D.C., attorney David Sheldon represents Gaston. He said that more North Carolina landlords are being held accountable for what happens on their rental property. The Marine Corps, he said, is basically a landlord for housing on Camp Lejeune. Already, two vicious breeds on the same military base have attacked two children in a short period of time.

"It makes you shake your head in confusion as to why the base hasn't taken steps to stop this," Sheldon said.

Base commanding officer, Col. Richard P. Flatau Jr., has now gathered a team of advisers to look at possible changes to the base's animal policy. The team's task is to "review existing policies for domestic animals on base, analyze historic records, and review military and civilian precedents." In doing so, they will find that many U.S. military bases and cities ban vicious breeds already.

We hope that while they "analyze historic records" another child's life is not lost or ruined forever.

Posted on May 15, 2008 by Colleen Lynn

2008 Dog Bite Fatality: Child Dies In Pit Bull Attack At Camp Lejeune

Julian Slack, 3-years old, was mauled to death by a pit bull at Camp Lejeune.

Mauling Victim Identified
UPDATE 05/16/08: Onslow County medical examiner, Dr. John Almeida, has released more information about the fatal pit bull attack that occurred. Julian Slack, 3-years old, bled to death as a result of dog bite injury. The manner of death is listed as accidental on the death certificate. Slack was at home and under the care of a babysitter at the time of the incident.

The attack occurred about 4 pm, when an acquaintance of the Slack family, who is neither a Marine nor a base resident, stopped by the family's Tarawa Terrace home with the dog. At some point, the dog was let into the residence and became "excited or startled" by something Slack may have done and attacked. It is undetermined who allowed the dog into the home.

Near the time of the attack, the child's parents arrived and transported the child to Onslow Memorial Hospital. He arrived at OMH without a pulse.

05/14/08: 3-Year Old Attacked on Base
Camp Lejeune, NC - Base officials at Camp Lejeune say a three-year old boy was bitten by a pit bull on base and died. A base spokesman says the incident happened at Tarawa Terrace. It's unclear what led to the attack. Onslow County Memorial Hospital spokesman says the father of the boy drove him to the hospital. The boy did not have a pulse when he arrived.

Last year, Dandre Fisher was mauled to death by two pit bulls at the Hunter Army Airfield in Georgia. In the past 10 years, more military bases have imposed breed-specific regulations on base housing communities to prevent tragic maulings. Camp Lejeune was not one of them (see bases with breed-specific laws). Furthermore, Camp Lejeune was sued for 5 million dollars in 2007 for a vicious attack by a rottweiler on a young girl.

Posted on May 2, 2008 by Colleen Lynn

2006 Fatal Dog Attack of 10-Year old John Matthew Davis

John Matthew Davis, 10-years old, was killed by a pack of dogs in Dillon.

Supreme Court Reinstates Conviction archived
UPDATE 08/20/14: South Carolina's highest court reinstated the conviction of Bentley Collins whose dogs mauled to death a 10-year old boy in 2006. The state Supreme Court on Wednesday reversed an appeals court decision, which had overturned Collins' conviction and sentence for involuntary manslaughter and owning dangerous animals. In November 2006, six of Collins' pit bull-mix dogs brutally attacked and killed John Matthew Davis; his body was found in Collins' yard.

The Court of Appeals ruled in 2012 that the trial judge had erred in allowing prosecutors to show the jury graphic injury photos taken by a pathologist who performed the autopsy. The Supreme Court Justices disagreed in a 4 to 1 decision written by Justice Beatty. The dissenter, Justice Pleicones, even wrote: "In my opinion, the only way we can educate the bench and bar as to that which is and is not beyond the pale is to publish these horrific photographs with our opinion."

Excerpts from state Supreme Court decision:

Justice Beatty: Respondent Bentley Collins was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and three counts of owning a dangerous animal causing injury to a person after a ten-year-old boy was killed and partially eaten by his dogs, most of whom were pitbull mixes. The State appeals from a decision of the Court of Appeals that reversed and remanded the matter for a new trial based solely on the trial court's admission of seven pre-autopsy photos of the victim. State v. Collins, 398 S.C. 197, 727 S.E.2d 751 (Ct. App. 2012). We reverse.

III. LAW/ANALYSIS

On appeal, the State contends the challenged photos, taken before the autopsy was commenced, accurately documented the injuries sustained by the victim in this case and, while graphic, were properly admitted in accordance with the trial court's broad discretion over evidentiary matters. The State argues the Court of Appeals (1) failed to give due deference to the trial court's decision, (2) erred in finding the photos were more prejudicial than probative, (3) erred in finding the photos were not material to the elements of the offenses charged and corroborative of other evidence, and (4) erred in making a purely emotional decision to reverse and remand for a new trial. We agree…
--- snip ---

In his trial testimony, Proctor explained that he did not normally take autopsy photos, but in his years of experience he had "never seen an attack by animals of this type, [so he] actually left the autopsy and went to [his] home and brought [his] camera back and took pictures for [] documentation purposes." (Emphasis added.) Proctor found there was "tremendous traumatic injury to this young man" that was as "significant [a] traumatic injury as [he had] seen."

During cross-examination, defense counsel questioned Proctor's findings extensively by asking him whether he had surveyed the dogs' teeth marks to determine which dogs inflicted specific injuries, whether the boy's jugular artery was "actually severed," and which came first, the "shredding" of the boy's jugular artery or the veins in his arms, etc. Thus, the nature and extent of the boy's physical injuries as described by the pathologist were in contention by the defense…
--- snip ---

Under our highly deferential standard of review, we conclude, contrary to the Court of Appeals, that the trial court did not abuse its wide scope of discretion in admitting the pre-autopsy photos. The Court of Appeals's obvious revulsion for the evidence, while certainly understandable, permeated its legal analysis. The evidence was highly probative, corroborative, and material in establishing the elements of the offenses charged; its probative value outweighed its potential prejudice; and the appellate court should not have invaded the trial court's discretion in admitting this crucial evidence based on its emotional reaction to the subject matter presented…
--- snip ---

These are not ordinary dog bites with which most jurors would ever be familiar. Even the pathologist stated he felt compelled to document the injuries prior to the start of the autopsy because he had never come across a situation this extreme. Since there was no one else present at the time of the event, the photos aided the jury in evaluating the testimony offered by both the State and the defendant, especially as to determining the dangerous propensities of the dogs and whether or not Collins's conduct was criminally reckless...

Read: Decision in full

04/15/14: Supreme Court Hears Case archived
The South Carolina Attorney General's office is appealing the Court of Appeals' decision to overturn the conviction of Bentley Collins in connection to the mauling death of a little boy. In 2006, 10-year old John Matthew Davis was brutally killed by six of Collins' dogs. In 2012, the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge erred in allowing gruesome photographs of the boy to be shown to jurors. Collins was convicted in 2007 by a Dillon County jury and sentenced to 5-years in jail.

02/16/12: Conviction Overturned archived
The conviction of Bentley Collins in connection to the mauling death of a 10-year old boy in 2006 was overturned today by the South Carolina Court of Appeals. The Court ruled that Circuit Court Judge Paul Burch erred by allowing the pre-autopsy photos of the boy's partially eaten body shown to jurors. "Because we find the trial court abused its discretion in admitting the photos, we reverse and remand for a new trial," wrote Chief Judge John C. Few in the majority opinion.

01/31/09: Guilty: Sentenced to 5 Years
On Friday, a jury convicted Bentley Collins after about two hours of deliberating. Circuit Court Judge Paul Burch sentenced Collins to five years in prison for the manslaughter charge and three years each for two of the three dangerous animals charges, which will run concurrent to the manslaughter sentence. The third of those charges was suspended to five years’ probation, which can be reduced to three years if Collins pays $8,000 in funeral expenses to Matthew’s family.

Fourth Circuit Solicitor Kernard Redmond told Burch that Collins should get the maximum penalty for his crime because even after Matthew’s death, Collins owned unconfined dogs. Law enforcement officers have been receiving complaints about his animals since August. "The defendant still has pit mixes running around on his property," Redmond said. "It’s almost an act of defiance (and) disregard by the client. One would think you could govern your behavior differently."

01/27/09: Fatal Dog Mauling Trial Begins
Testimony began today in the case of a Dillon County man charged in the fatal mauling of a 10-year old boy. John Matthew Davis was found dead by his mother, Caroline Davis, after six dogs attacked him in the driveway of Bentley Collins' home. Fourth Circuit Deputy Solicitor Kernard Redmond said Collins is partially to blame for the boy’s death. Bentley faces one count of involuntary manslaughter and multiple charges of keeping unconfined dangerous animals.

Dr. Edward Proctor, who performed the autopsy on Matthew’s body, said the boy’s eyes, nose and all the soft tissue around his face completely were eaten away. "The jugular was essentially shredded. You could see the artery," he said. Matthew’s waist and legs were covered in dirt and grime apparently from the boy being pulled down and dragged, Proctor said. The photographs he showed the jury were so disturbing that one juror became visibly shaken and began to cry.

05/02/08: New Trial Date Set for Dog Owner
Dillon County, SC - A new date has been set in the trial of a man whose dogs authorities say killed a 10-year old boy November 3rd, 2006. According to 4th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Kernard Redmond, who is prosecuting the case, Bentley Collins, 53 will be tried June 16th on a charge of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the death of John Matthew Davis. The boy had been on his way home when he was brutally attacked and killed by a pack of dogs owned by Collins.

DogsBite blog ::

2008 Dog Bite Fatality: 7-Year Old Boy Attacked and Killed by Pit Bulls in Breckenridge, Texas

Owners Charged under Texas Felony Dog Attack Statute

Fatal Dog Mauling of Julian Slack Brings Back Bad Memories

2008 Dog Bite Fatality: Child Dies In Pit Bull Attack At Camp Lejeune

State Supreme Court Reinstates Conviction In 2006 Fatal Dog Mauling Case

2006 Fatal Dog Attack of 10-Year old John Matthew Davis