Stardate 20011025.2155 (On Screen): This is the kind of story that makes me shake my head and mutter, "Only in California." Last January, a woman in San Francisco was attacked and killed by two bull mastiffs in the hallway of her apartment building. The dogs belonged to a man serving time in the state penitentiary, and they were being cared for by his attorneys. One of the two was there at the time. Both of them have been charged with manslaughter and the one who was present is also up for second degree murder. One of the two dogs was euthanized immediately, but the other one has been held all this time because of a court challenge that this dog wasn't really vicious and shouldn't really be killed. It actually required a hearing in front of a state appeals court before permission would be granted to kill the second animal, too. Only in California would the appeals court even agreed to hear the case.
I think I know what's going on: the dog doesn't matter. What's happening is that the defense attorney was trying to lay groundwork for a claim that at least one of the dogs wasn't dangerous and thus that there wasn't any reason for the two attorneys to know that the other one would be. On that basis he hoped to get them off. (discuss)
