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Berry v. Superior Court, 256 Cal. Rptr. 344 (1989), is an unofficially reported California Court of Appeal case. The case is relevant to the legal topic of criminal homicide and liability for unintentional killings.
In Berry v. Superior Court [1] the defendant, Berry, was charged with the murder and negligent keeping of a mischievous animal which kills a human being (Pen. Code,§ 399); marijuana cultivation; and misdemeanor keeping of a fighting dog. This is a petition for a writ of prohibition seeking dismissal for the charges of murder and Penal Code section 399. Berry contended that the evidence presented at the preliminary hearing failed to establish implied malice; and there was no evidence that the animal was mischievous or was kept without ordinary care.
On June 13, 1987, Berry's pit bull dog killed 21⁄2 year old James Soto after the child had wandered into the area where "Willy" was tethered. The victim's parents had four other children and were warned by Berry about the dangerousness of Willy. The victim and his family lived on the same lot as Berry, and there was no enclosure around the dog. The dog was behind a six-foot fence, but the area was readily accessible to anyone.
There were 243 marijuana plants by Berry's house that could not be approached without crossing Willy's area. Berry bought the dog from a breeder of fighting dogs, and possessed considerable literature and equipment for dog fighting. "Willy" was known for his fighting abilities, his gameness, wind, and exceptionally hard bite. An animal control officer, who qualified as a fighting dog expert, testified that pit bull dogs are selectively bred to be aggressive towards other animals and that they are considered by animal control to be dangerous unless proven otherwise.
The court used the test for implied malice in an unintentional killing to assess the merits of the defendants argument. Implied malice in an unintentional killing is an actual appreciation of a high risk that is objectively present. The act must be done with wanton disregard to life and with a base antisocial motive and a high probability that death will result.
The court found that Berry was aware of the dangerousness to human beings by his tethering of the dog, giving a warning to the parents that the dog was dangerous, his knowledge of the breed. The arguably antisocial purpose involved Berry owning a fighting dog and the apparent evidence that the dog was kept to guard illegal marijuana plants. The probability that death could result from Berry keeping the dog was found to be a question of fact for the jury to find. The writ of prohibition was denied.
Berry was convicted of involuntary manslaughter at trial, and sentenced to imprisonment for 3 years and 8 months.
Pit bull is an umbrella term for several types of dog believed to have descended from bull and terriers. In the United States, the term is usually considered to include the American Pit Bull Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, American Bully, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, and sometimes the American Bulldog, along with any crossbred dog that shares certain physical characteristics with these breeds. In other countries, including the United Kingdom, the term is used as an abbreviation of the American Pit Bull Terrier breed specifically, while the Staffordshire Bull Terrier is not considered a pit bull. Most pit bull–type dogs descend from the British bull and terrier, a 19th-century dog-fighting type developed from crosses between the Old English Bulldog and the Old English Terrier.
The Staffordshire Bull Terrier, also called the Staffy or Stafford, is a purebred dog of small to medium size in the terrier group that originated in the northern parts of Birmingham and in the Black Country of Staffordshire, for which it is named. They descended from 19th-century bull terriers that were developed by crossing bulldogs with various terriers to create a generic type of dog generally known as bull and terriers. Staffords share the same ancestry with the modern Bull Terrier, although the two breeds developed along independent lines, and do not resemble each other. Modern Staffords more closely resemble the old type of bull terrier, and were first recognised as a purebred dog breed by The Kennel Club of Great Britain in 1935.
Bull-baiting is a blood sport involving pitting a bull against dogs with the aim of attacking and subduing the bull by biting and holding onto its nose or neck, which often resulted in the death of the bull.
Dog fighting is a type of blood sport that turns game and fighting dogs against each other in a physical fight, often to the death, for the purposes of gambling or entertainment to the spectators. In rural areas, fights are often staged in barns or outdoor pits; in urban areas, fights are often staged in garages, basements, warehouses, alleyways, abandoned buildings, neighborhood playgrounds, or in the streets. Dog fights usually last until one dog is declared a winner, which occurs when one dog fails to scratch, dies, or jumps out of the pit. Sometimes dog fights end without declaring a winner; for instance, the dog's owner may call the fight.
Diane Alexis Whipple was an American lacrosse player and college coach. She was killed in a dog attack in San Francisco on January 26, 2001. The dogs involved were two Presa Canarios. Paul Schneider, the dogs' owner, is a high-ranking member of the Aryan Brotherhood and is serving three life sentences in state prison. The dogs were looked after by Schneider's attorneys, Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller, a husband and wife who lived in the same apartment building as Whipple. After the fatal attack, the state brought criminal charges against the attorneys. Noel, who was not present during the attack, was convicted of manslaughter. Knoller, who was present, was charged with implied-malice second-degree murder and convicted by the jury. Knoller's murder conviction, an unusual result for an unintended dog attack, was rejected by the trial judge but ultimately upheld. The case clarified the meaning of implied malice murder.
A leash is a rope or similar material used to control an animal by attaching it to a collar, harness, or halter. In British English, a leash is generally for a larger animal, with lead being more commonly used when walking a dog.
In law, breed-specific legislation (BSL) is a type of law that prohibits or restricts particular breeds or types of dog. Such laws range from outright bans on the possession of these dogs, to restrictions and conditions on ownership, and often establishes a legal presumption that such dogs are dangerous or vicious to prevent dog attacks. Some jurisdictions have enacted breed-specific legislation in response to a number of fatalities or maulings involving pit bull–type dogs or other dog breeds commonly used in dog fighting, and some government organizations such as the United States Army and Marine Corps have taken administrative action as well. Due to opposition to such laws in the United States, anti-BSL laws have been passed in 21 of the 50 state-level governments, prohibiting or restricting the ability of jurisdictions within those states to enact or enforce breed-specific legislation.
The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom prohibiting or restricting certain types of dogs and codifying the criminal offence of allowing a dog of any breed to be dangerously out of control. After a series of eleven dog attacks in 1991, Home Secretary Kenneth Baker promised "to rid the country of the menace of these fighting dogs". The Act has been controversial for failing to stem the rise of dog attacks and for focusing on a dog's breed or looks instead of an individual dog's behaviour.
The American Pit Bull Terrier (APBT) is a dog breed recognized by the United Kennel Club (UKC) and the American Dog Breeders Association (ADBA), but not the American Kennel Club (AKC). It is a medium-sized, short-haired dog, of a solid build, whose early ancestors came from England. When compared with the English Staffordshire Bull Terrier, the American Pit Bull Terrier is larger by margins of 6–8 inches (15–20 cm) in height and 25–35 pounds (11–16 kg) in weight. The American Pit Bull Terrier varies in size: males are normally about 18–21 inches (45–53 cm) in height and around 35–60 pounds (15–27 kg) in weight, while females are normally around 17–20 inches (43–50 cm) in height and 30–50 pounds (13–22 kg) in weight.
The Tosa Inu is a breed of dog of Japanese origin that is considered rare. It was originally bred in Tosa, Shikoku, as a fighting dog and is the only breed still used (legally) in Japanese dog fighting. Ownership is restricted in some countries as a dangerous breed.
Malice aforethought is the "premeditation" or "predetermination" required as an element of some crimes in some jurisdictions and a unique element for first-degree or aggravated murder in a few. Insofar as the term is still in use, it has a technical meaning that has changed substantially over time.
Rat-baiting is a blood sport that involves releasing captured rats in an enclosed space with spectators betting on how long a dog, usually a terrier often referred to as a ratter, takes to kill the rats. Often, two dogs competed, with the winner receiving a cash prize. It is now illegal in most countries.
The Bad Newz Kennels dog fighting investigation began in April 2007 with a search of property in Surry County, Virginia, owned by Michael Vick, who was at the time quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons football team, and the subsequent discovery of evidence of a dog fighting ring. Over seventy dogs, mostly pit bull terriers, with some said to be showing signs of injuries, were seized, along with physical evidence during several searches of Vick's 15-acre (61,000 m2) property by local, state and federal authorities.
Dog fighting in the United States is an activity in which fights between two game dogs are staged as a form of entertainment and gambling. Such activity has existed since the early 19th century in the United States and was gradually prohibited in all states. It continues as an underground activity in both rural and urban locations.
United States v. Stevens, 559 U.S. 460 (2010), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States, which ruled that 18 U.S.C. § 48, a federal statute criminalizing the commercial production, sale, or possession of depictions of cruelty to animals, was an unconstitutional abridgment of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech.
Florida v. Jardines, 569 U.S. 1 (2013), was a United States Supreme Court case which resulted in the decision that police use of a trained detection dog to sniff for narcotics on the front porch of a private home is a "search" within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, and therefore, without consent, requires both probable cause and a search warrant.
The writ of estrepement, or de estrepamento, was a writ in common law countries that would be used to prevent estrepement, a type of 'voluntary waste'. The waste that the writ would issue to prevent would be waste that occurred in response to a lawsuit seeking possession of the land, or a judgment against the waster where possession had not yet been delivered.
Status dog is a term used in the United Kingdom to describe a potentially dangerous or aggressive dog that is kept as a symbol of the owner's hard or tough image, to intimidate others, and possibly as a weapon. This idea has persisted through centuries, tracing back to Roman times. More recently, after news of vicious dogs mauling young victims, the Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 placed restrictions on the ownership and care of four types of dog ; while two further breeds, the Rottweiler and the Staffordshire Bull Terrier, are also widely perceived as status dogs. The UK has been taking steps to address the problem, starting with the Metropolitan Police establishing a dedicated Status Dog Unit in 2009.
DogsBite.org is a nonprofit organization that publishes accounts of and compiles statistics of dog bite related fatalities throughout the United States, victim testimonies, an overview of breed-specific legislation within the United States, and advocates for victims of dog bites by promoting breed-specific legislation as a means to reduce serious dog attacks. The organization provides statistics and information to news organizations and has filed amicus briefs in court cases related to breed-specific legislation. The organization has been criticized for publishing misleading or inaccurate information.
