A humane decision by a good judge
At one table in the Marshall County court was a homeless man with an apparent alcohol problem, representing himself, pleading for the life of his best friend, a wolf hybrid named Shyrkee. At the other table was the attorney for the City of Plymouth, who was asking the court to have Shyrkee euthanized as a vicious animal. The only witness called by the homeless man to testify on Shyrkee’s behalf was the homeless man himself. Testifying for the City were police and animal control officers. At the close of evidence, the city attorney argued: “Someone is going to get hurt bad. . . . On behalf of the citizens of Plymouth, the evidence is overwhelming — they are in danger.”
After weighing the evidence and the arguments of the parties, Judge Robert Bowen ruled . . . for Shyrkee:
According to the Plymouth ordinance, an animal is deemed vicious if it is capable of serious injury; chases, confronts or approaches a person in a menacing fashion; placed a person in fear of attack; and was not provoked.
“In each incident cited, Shyrkee did not chase, confront or approach a person in a menacing fashion, nor can it be concluded that Shyrkee was not provoked,” Bowen ruled. “In each instance, it was a person who chased, confronted or approached Shyrkee.”
I like Marshall County, though I don’t get down there very often. Unlike another less populated county which borders St. Joseph County (and its bustling metropolis of South Bend), I’ve found the court staff, local attorneys, and even the prosecutors to be uniformly hospitable, decent and reasonable. From the linked story, the city attorney and the animal control officer who believed Shyrkee should be put down sound decent too:
Plymouth’s city attorney, Nelson Chipman, said the city deeply appreciates the relationship people have with their dogs, but it could not risk the danger the dog presents to the public by giving it back.
. . .
When Chipman specifically asked animal control officer Cindy Washburn if she thought the dog should be euthanized, she took a long pause before answering.
“Honestly, yes,” she said.
I also like Judge Bowen, even though I lost the only contested hearing I’ve had before him. Before I became a lawyer or even thought about law school, the fact that the outcomes of court cases apparently depended so heavily on the quality (or reputation, or social status) of the lawyers involved perplexed and troubled me. It still does. Isn’t the law the law? Judge Bowen’s decision shows that, at least in his courtroom, even a pro se homeless guy and his dog can get a fair hearing, and that not everything that theoretically makes the rest of us a little less safe will be sacrificed to the false god of security.
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