Panel advances stricter animal-control bill
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The prosecutor in a deadly dog-attack case told the family of the 4-year-old victim that legislation approved by a House committee Wednesday would have ensured a conviction of the animals’ owner.
After the Louisiana House Committee on Administration of Criminal Justice had approved without objection House Bill 155, the family and friends of Michael Blaise Landry, the Morganza 4-year-old who was killed in April by three boxers that had escaped their pens, gathered around Tony Clayton, of Port Allen. They voiced their displeasure with Clayton’s handling of the presentation to a grand jury seeking to criminally charge the owners of the dogs.
A Pointe Coupee Parish grand jury on May 8 heard from six witnesses during a daylong session before deciding that the mauling death of Blaise Landry did not rise to the level of a grossly negligent act.
Clayton said current law is too vague, particularly in defining what constitutes negligence on the part of a dog owner in cases like this. But the changes made to HB155 by the legislative panel, which narrows the focus to people who fail to keep proper control of their animals, would help prosecutors obtain convictions.
“This bill is a law that gives us teeth,” Clayton said to family members. “Don’t get caught up on the viciousness of the dog, get caught up in the negligence of the human being.”
HB155 would allow prosecutors to specifically charge dog owners with negligent homicide — a crime that carries a sentence of up to five years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000. Lawmakers amended the legislation to exclude farm animals, livestock and service animals.
Even with the amendments, Brent McDaniel, of Seabrook, Texas, said he still was concerned that the wording was too vague. “I would like the language of negligence to be simpler and easier to prove for district attorneys.”
His 83-year-old mother, Luna McDaniel, of Ville Platte, was mauled by three pit bull terriers during her morning walk on Aug. 26, 2008. City worker Theo Doucet told police he did not know how his dogs escaped from their shed.
McDaniel died from her injuries, and Doucet was charged with negligent homicide. His trial is scheduled to begin in June.
The legislation would allow government to better define criminal negligence, such as require the owners of vicious dogs to build higher fences and install locks on gates, said Clayton, who testified on the legislation at the committee hearing.
“If they know they’re going to be held responsible, then maybe they’ll take those steps,” said Shannon McDaniel of Livingston, who is Luna McDaniel’s granddaughter.
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