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It may be dog court, but no joke to owners
By CARY DAVIS © St. Petersburg Times, published February 4, 2001 NEW PORT RICHEY -- The defendant in the case of Pasco County vs. Nicole Chrenko didn't have a lawyer or anyone to testify on her behalf. Chrenko had nothing more than her word. She lost the case, and she wasn't happy about it. "I don't know anything about the court system," said Chrenko, 26. "I don't think this is fair." The issues in Pasco County Judge Marc Salton's courtroom on this day were not monumental. No murders, no rapes, no child custody. All the cases involved ordinance violations, and the stiffest penalty for a conviction was a fine. But for the defendants, if for no one else, the issues were of great consequence. This is what it's like in dog court. "These cases are often more disputed than the cases handled by the State Attorney's Office," said Assistant County Attorney Debra Zampetti, who serves as a sort of prosecutor in dog court. Chrenko's experience is typical of people who choose to fight animal control citations in court. Most, like Chrenko, are unfamiliar with basic court procedure and the rules of evidence, yet, because their cases involve only civil infractions, they don't hire lawyers. This is the people's court. And in many ways, it's no different than any other court. Evidence is presented. Witnesses are cross-examined. People get emotional. Few cases in dog court ever make it to the final hearing stage -- the equivalent of a trial. Most people cited with violating the county's pet ordinances pay their fine and go on with their lives. Others, for a variety of reasons, choose to fight. Some people are guilty and come hoping for sympathy from the judge. Some come to prove their innocence. Others come to settle disputes with their neighbors, or use the public forum to put their positions on the record. Chrenko was accused of cruelty to animals for chaining her pit bullterrier, Jahara, to a tree and allowing the dog to become malnourished and infested with fleas. Her defense: She had fallen on hard times and didn't have enough money for Jahara's medication. But, she told Judge Salton, "The dog has never gone without food or water. I put him on a 20-foot chain because some of my neighbors poisoned him." Then Zampetti, who spends most of her days deciphering land development codes and other legal issues pertaining to county government, put on her case. She showed Salton pictures of a skinny, malnourished Jahara. Then she called to the stand a veterinarian who testified that "fleas had sucked most of the blood out of (Jahara)." The veterinarian, Dr. Robert Hase, also said Jahara had hookworms and was severely dehydrated. Chrenko asked to show the judge a letter from her veterinarian saying Jahara was not neglected, but Salton wouldn't accept it. Unless the veterinarian appeared in court to authenticate the letter, it was hearsay, and therefore inadmissible, the judge ruled. Salton then found Chrenko guilty and fined her $343. "I think it was wrong," Chrenko said, adding that she planned to appeal the judge's ruling. Richard Armitage had a similar experience Monday in front of Pasco County Judge William Sestak. Armitage was accused of allowing Bear, a black chow-collie mix, to run loose around his neighborhood. He also was cited for not having current tags and rabies shots for Bear. Given a chance to plead his case at the end of the hearing, Armitage reached into a brown paper bag and produced a jangling chain of dog tags. They're up to date now, Armitage told the judge. "Why aren't they on your dog?" the judge asked. "He's out in the car," said Armitage, 48. Sestak rolled his eyes, paused, and said: "Mr. Armitage, you are guilty on all three counts." The judge then fined him $260. Later, a dejected Armitage sat on a bench outside the courtroom. He said he knew the facts were against him, but, as he put it, "I was hoping for a little sympathy from the judge." "I didn't have $260, so what else could I do?" Some of the scenes that play out in dog court might seem amusing. But to the people involved, there's nothing funny about it, Judge Salton said. "Within the grand scheme of things, it's not as serious as other kinds of cases," Salton said. "But it's important to the people involved, and we have to treat it as such." Patrick Foley won his case in dog court. But he said it felt more like he'd lost. Foley, 35, was found not guilty Monday by Judge Sestak of letting the tags for one of his pit bullterriers expire. The reason: Foley's pit bulls are now dead. Foley was disappointed because what he really wanted was a chance to make a statement about pit bulls in court. "I was hoping to go to trial," he said. Foley's prized pit bulls, Puck and Buster, were killed after they escaped from Foley's fenced-in back yard, wandered a quarter-mile into a family's backyard and attacked a pack of pet pygmy goats. The goats belonged to a 10-year-old New Port Richey girl. The girl's father, Vince Gardiner, killed the pit bulls with a crossbow and a 9mm handgun, but not before four of the goats died in the attack. The case attracted widespread media coverage because two of the dead goats were named after Tampa Bay Buccaneer players: Shaun King and Martin Grammatica. But Foley, who also was charged with failing to confine vicious animals, said his dogs were the real victims. "This is what gets my goat, pardon the pun," Foley said. "To use my dogs as target practice is just crazy. My dogs probably thought they were doing this pack of smelly goats a favor." Foley previously was cleared on the charge of failing to confine vicious animals because the Gardiners did not show up for the court date. "I wish (the Gardiners) had come to court," he said. "I wanted a trial so I could tell people that they don't have a license to kill pit bulls." - Cary Davis covers courts in west Pasco County. He can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6236 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6236. His e-mail address is cbdavis@sptimes.com.
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