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State Supreme Court Reinstates Conviction In 2006 Fatal Dog Mauling Case

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

fatal pit bull attack of 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…
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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…
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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…
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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.

Related articles:
10/11/08: Fatal Dog Mauling Trial of Tanner Joshua Monk, 7 Years Old
05/16/08: 2006 Fatality: Second Trial Begins for Pit Bull Owner in Kansas City

2008 Dog Bite Fatality: Abraham Jonathan Tackett, Killed by Chained Dog

boy killed by chained husky
Abraham Tackett, nearly 2-years old, was killed by a chained husky-mix.

Chained Dog Kills Boy archived
Fort Yukon, AK - A boy was killed in Fort Yukon this week after he wandered into a neighbor's yard and was attacked by a chained dog. Abraham Jonathan Tackett was pronounced dead on arrival at the village clinic following the attack. He would have been 2-years old on May 19, said his grandmother, Mary Beth Solomon. The boy got his middle name from his great-grandfather, Jonathan Solomon, a prominent Fort Yukon orator and traditional Gwich'in chief, she said.

At about 3 pm, the boy and his father were preparing to run some errands on a four-wheeler, according to police officer Chris Inderrieden. They stepped outside into the front yard, and the father put the child down while he ran back inside for a moment, he said. In this time, the boy wandered into the neighbor's back yard about 50 yards away. There were a number of chained dogs in the neighbor's yard that had recently been fed and were still eating, Inderrieden said.

Sadly, the child approached a 3-year old husky-mix and the animal attacked, apparently protecting its food, Inderrieden said. When his father, Clayton Tackett, came back outside, he started looking for his son. Alerted by a neighbor girl, pointing him in the direction of the dogs, Tackett ran into the backyard and saw the dog on top of the boy. He immediately pulled the animal off the boy and rushed him to the Yukon Flats Health Center, where he was pronounced dead, Inderrieden said.

      The fatal attack is the second in the last dozen years in Fort Yukon, a village of about 600 that sits along the Yukon River some 145 miles northeast of Fairbanks. In 1996, a 4-year-old boy was killed by a previously nonviolent malamute-husky mix in a sled dog lot behind the village store, according to news reports at the time.
This dog also had no history of aggressive behavior, but police shot it Monday night in the interest of public safety, Inderrieden said. - James Haplin, Anchorage Daily News, Published April 29, 2008

Related article:
01/21/08: 1991-2002 Alaska Led US in Dog Bite Fatalities and Injuries

2007 Dog Bite Fatality: Pontotoc County Woman Mauled to Death by Pack of Pit Bull-Mixes

Killed by Pack of Dogs
ADA, OK - A 65-year-old Pontotoc County woman was mauled to death by a pack of pit bull-mix dogs. Two others who came to her aid were also attacked, according to sheriff Joe Glover. He said Rosalie Bivins was checking her mail in front of her residence on County Road 1480 when five to seven dogs began their vicious attack. A rural mail carrier discovered Bivins lying in the road screaming for help. When he exited his vehicle to help, the dogs turned on him.

      A 65-year-old rural Pontotoc County woman was mauled to death Monday by a pack of pit bull mixed-breed dogs. Two others who came to her aid were also attacked, according to Pontotoc County Undersheriff Joe Glover.
Glover said Rosalie Bivins was checking her mail in front of her residence on County Road 1480 -- north of State Highway 3W -- when five to seven dogs began their vicious attack. A rural mail carrier who happened on the scene found Bivins was lying in road yelling for help. - Randy Mitchell, Ada Evening News, October 16, 2007

According to Glover, the postal worker then drove to a neighbor’s house to ask for help. The neighbor, Dearl Newby, grabbed a gun and the two men rushed to the scene to try to save Bivins. When they arrived, a third man, who had already fought with the dogs, had bite injuries on his arm and leg. After Newby fired his shotgun, killing one of the attacking dogs, the rest fled. Bivins did not survive before emergency personnel arrived on the scene. Several of dogs were later shot.

The pack of dogs had been in the neighborhood for several years, according to neighbors. They believed Bivins' son-in-law had used the animals to hunt wild hogs in the surrounding wooded areas. Glover said the son-in-law denied owning the dogs, but said he fed them from time-to-time. Bivins had lived in the area for nearly 40 years. Her daughter and son-in-law also lived nearby on property owned by Bivins, authorities said. There are no leash laws in Pontotoc County.

      Bivins, 65, died after a pack of dogs, who appeared to veterinarians to be pit bull terrier mixes, apparently knocked her down and began chewing on her flesh. Bivins, who was buried in a rural Pontotoc County cemetery Thursday, had been bitten so badly on one leg, her bone was exposed.
Newby was one of three neighbors who came to Bivins' aid after a mail carrier came upon the grisly scene. Bivins was still alive when the mail carrier found her. She asked the mail carrier for help, Newby said.
When the mail carrier arrived at his house breathless and rattled, Newby grabbed a shotgun and headed for his truck. When he got to Bivins' home, two other neighbors were fighting to get the dogs off the woman. Newby fired a shot, hitting one of the dogs and startling the rest. - Julie Bisbee, The Oklahoman, October 22, 2007

2007 Fatal Mauling Investigation of Carshena Benjamin Closes Unresolved

Dog Mauling Case Closed
Collier County, FL - On May 26, 2007, 71-year-old Carshena Benjamin left her Golden Gate Estates home for her morning walk. Later that day her bruised and bloody body was found face down in a drainage ditch. Her shirt and jacket were pulled up over her head, leading investigators to believe she had been decapitated. So badly was her body mutilated, she could hardly be identified.

Detectives only found her body by calling her cell phone, which lay close to her in the ditch. The ringing led them to Carshena, who wasn't too far from her home at the time of the attack. It is later determined that she was killed by several neighborhood pit bulls. Nearly one year after her death, no one has been charged and the whereabouts of the pit bulls are still unknown.

By mid June, the District 20 Medical Examiner determined that Carshena's death resulted from dog bites. Detectives and Collier County Domestic Animal Services combed the Estates, looking for the dogs that killed her. What they did not know, is that on the morning of Carshena's death, three dogs covered in blood had returned to the home across the street from where her body was found.

According to a closed investigation by the Collier County Sheriff’s Office, "The blood was washed off the dogs, and they were quickly taken to the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. Days later the three dogs were driven far from Collier County and dropped off to fend for themselves."

Linda Billie, 54, owns the property where the dogs lived. Records show, however, that Billie lives on the Big Cypress Seminole Reservation. Shirley Fay Newell, 53, resides in the house, and has been friends with Billie about 20 years. Newell is also the owner of two pit bull-boxer mix dogs, a male and female named PiePie and Sierra. At the time of Benjamin’s death, neighbors said they felt threatened by Newell’s dogs.

Six weeks before the attack, Newell broke her ankle and spent the next month in the hospital. She told investigators that Billie and her ex-husband, Chuck Newell, 60, took care of her dogs while she was away. At the time of Benjamin’s death, Newell told investigators that Sierra and PiePie had run away while she was in the hospital, and she didn’t know where they were. Investigators declared Newell "uncooperative."

Newell's suffering started long before her broken ankle. In the mid-1990s, her son, Barney Ray Phillips, and his 18-year-old girlfriend, Melissa Mardis, were gunned down by Melissa's jealous husband, Alfred “Lenny” Mardis. Alfred Mardis was eventually sentenced to life in prison. Two detectives who worked on the Benjamin investigation, Detective Ray Wilkinson and Lt. Mike Fox, also assisted with the Mardis case.

With the dogs "missing" and an uncooperative owner, the investigation turned cold. But in mid-August Detective Wilkinson received a call from Newell. She was having trouble sleeping. She wanted to know if she could be sued or arrested if her dogs had been involved in Carshena's death. She wanted a guarantee from Wilkinson that her dogs would not be euthanized. "No," he told her.

Newell finally opened up and agreed to tell Wilkinson what she knew. After she returned from the hospital, she said that Billie continued to watch the dogs. But on the weekend of Benjamin’s death, Billie was scheduled to play in a pool tournament. She dropped Sierra and PiePie off with Newell, along with her own dog, a Welsh corgi named Corky.

On the morning of Carshena's death, Newell placed the dogs on the lanai to relieve themselves. She later heard the lanai door slam, and found the dogs missing. Newell said she believed Sierra opened the screen door by pushing the latch. When Sierra and Corky returned, both were covered in blood. PiePie was across the street where the body was later found. Newell told Wilkinson that "it looked like the dog was guarding something."

When Billie returned later that day, she cleaned up the dogs, and took Corky and PiePie to her home on the reservation. She later came back and took Sierra as well. Both women told investigators that Chuck Newell, Shirley Newell’s ex-husband, said they needed to kill the dogs. Instead, Billie put the dogs in her truck and dumped them in several locations. She said she knew it was wrong to take the dogs.

In November, the investigation into Carshena Benjamin’s death was quietly closed. The Benjamin family did not know the case was closed until at least a week after the fact. The Sheriff’s Office says the case began as a death investigation, not a criminal investigation. It turned into a public safety investigation to find the dogs so they would not harm anyone else.

Recently, the Benjamin family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Shirley Newell and Billie in Collier Circuit Court. Newell says she's not doing well; Carshena's death has gotten her "all messed up." She believes now that a car struck Carshena and she misses her dogs dearly. Carshena's family finds it ironic that she is in such remorse after having lost her pet. After all, "we lost our mother," said her daughter.