Appeals drag as dog ages

The Great Dane bit a girl in the face in 1995.

[Times photo: Scott Keeler] Beethoven lies on a couch in his pen at Pinellas County Animal Services on Ulmerton Road.

By ROBERT FARLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 5, 2000

LARGO -- Beethoven ambles forward with the indifference of a dog with nothing but time and nowhere to go.

Imposing at 3 feet tall and 145 pounds, the Great Dane nevertheless appears docile as he makes his way toward the front of the 6--by-12-foot cage that has been its home for nearly five years.

A couch sets off an otherwise drab, grey room. Scattered pillows suggest a sleepless night. On the opposite wall is a series of metal shelves, bare save some medication and a wire muzzle used for twice-daily walks. A window in the back offers a glimpse of the outside world, a woods behind the center.

Beethoven landed on Pinellas County's equivalent of death row for dogs in September 1995 after he bit a 4-year-old Palm Harbor girl on the face. The girl had ventured into the garage where the dog was chained. A judge ruled that Beethoven be destroyed. A string of appeals has spared the dog a death by lethal injection since then.

But time may be running out for Beethoven.

Not because the executioner's hour is near. Even Assistant County Attorney Christy Pemberton believes Beethoven's appeals could drag on for years.

Instead, Beethoven's owner and attorney believe old age may claim Beethoven first.

Now almost 10, Beethoven is nearing the tail end of his breed's life expectancy. And he has spent more time as a ward of the county -- five years -- than with his owner.

"Multiply that by seven in dog years," says attorney David Plante, who represents Beethoven's owner, Lorraine Blackwood. "It's just amazing."

Mrs. Blackwood senses some urgency.

"All I want is the dog home," Mrs. Blackwood said. "He probably has less than six months left. Can we please bring him home for his last days?"

County officials find her plea disingenuous, considering that she has not visited Beethoven in more than a year.

Rather, Dr. Welch Agnew, assistant director of veterinary services for Pinellas County Animal Services, believes the endless appeals are aimed not at freeing the dog, but at embarrassing the department.

"Is that showing a lot of compassion for an animal?" Agnew asks. "I don't think so."

Worse, he said, it ignores the true victim, Julia Allen, who he said was "viciously attacked by the dog."

Mrs. Blackwood says visits became too emotionally draining. It gave the dog false hope of going home, she says.

"You can't understand," she says.

Mrs. Blackwood estimates she has spent more than $4,000 in legal fees for appeals. The actual legal costs are much higher, probably in the $100,000 range, she said, but the firm representing Beethoven has so far not requested further payment.

Asked about the legal costs, Plante said, "Right now, our concern is to get the dog released."

Plante contends Beethoven never got a fair hearing. He believes animal control authorities had their minds made up before Beethoven's hearing ever began. Plante also contends the defense was unable to subpoena some key witnesses favorable to their case, including Julia. Nor were they able to get hold of the girl's medical records or photos of her wounds, he said.

"The reason, and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure this out, is that she has no disfiguring wounds," Plante said.

But Pemberton says Julia did suffer some scars. Pemberton said she recently spoke with Julia's mother, who reported that Julia has gotten into cheerleading and that that has "helped her to be less self-conscious about how she looks."

"And obviously, there was psychological trauma," Pemberton says.

Julia's mother, Leah Allen, could not be reached for comment.

"The focus gets turned away from where it should be," Pemberton said. "Little Julia Allen is so lucky. It (the bite) was so close to her jugular vein. She could have been killed. . . . The child was mauled."

Plante has a different version of events. Plante believes that as Julia and another girl reached up and around the dog's neck, one of the girls accidentally poked the dog in the eye or ear, "which caused the dog to give an instantaneous bite response, which is not an attack."

Pemberton counters that Beethoven has had fair hearings, both in county court and before animal control authorities.

"The law is clear," Pemberton said. "If a dog attacks and causes severe injury to a human, that dog should be immediately confiscated and destroyed in an expeditious and humane manner.

"He (Plante) can appeal til hell freezes over, and it appears that's the plan, but he has had a trial in county court and lost," she said. "He had an evidentiary hearing at the animal control authority level, and lost.

Agnew said animal services holds hearings about once a month to determine whether a dog should be destroyed. Very few owners appeal.

Beethoven's case, while by far the longest running, is not the only one in Pinellas County. Although less heralded in the press, a Rottweiler named Rock has been on what is unofficially known as "death row" for about 14 months after biting a chunk out of a teenager's calf.

There is no real death row, per se, in the county's animal services building on Ulmerton Road in Largo. In truth, Beethoven is housed in a cat ward. He is kept segregated from the general population by a chain link fence with the warning "Keep this gate closed at all times."

"He's not got it too bad," Agnew said. "It's jail, but it's better than being chained up in a garage."

Beethoven's quarters are downright plush compared to the accommodations for Rock, which has been a sore spot for Rock's owner, Guy Grabowski.

Rock's cage is half the size of Beethoven's and is in the middle of the isolation ward for dogs. Aside from a large pillow, the cage is bare.

Grabowski, owner of Sunset Cycles, says the conditions for Rock are shameful.

Unlike Beethoven's owner, Grabowski comes to visit and walk his dog every day. In part, that's out of necessity, Agnew said.

"He's not a nice boy," Agnew said of Rock. "He has gone after some of our people."

Grabowski says the county workers just aren't properly trained. He says he is fighting for Rock because he believes the law discriminates against larger dogs, which cause worse bites.

Grabowski figures he's out about $4,000 in boarding and attorneys fees. The county charges $5 a day for boarding. Grabowski also has paid for a dog trainer and dog psychologist to visit Rock.

Agnew notes that unlike Grabowski, Mrs. Blackwood has refused to pay Beethoven's boarding fees. He estimates, therefore, that county taxpayers are out nearly $9,000 for Beethoven's care. And that doesn't include the expense of blood work, physical exams, heartworm treatments, vaccinations and deworming.

Over time, some of the animal services employees have gotten quite attached to Beethoven, Agnew said.

"We don't hate Beethoven," Agnew said. "And we don't hate Rock."

And Agnew said that while Beethoven is generally docile, "that's not the same thing as saying he's safe."

"I certainly wouldn't leave my granddaughter with him, based on his history," Agnew said.

Agnew is as astounded as anyone the case has dragged on as long as it has.

"I understand it's an emotional issue," he said. "But I think that part has died out in five years."

After nearly five years, Blackwood, too, wonders how the case has taken so long to resolve. Her last contact with Beethoven was to oversee a $1,200 operation to have a tumor removed from the dog.

In the years since Beethoven was first detained, she married William Blackwood, a county judge. The couple recently got a German shepherd.

As the years pass, she said, hope fades.

"I quite frankly am afraid to hope," Blackwood said. "I never dreamt we'd be looking at five years. I'm not sure I'd do this all over again."

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