Dog bite case is postponed

Judge to rule on 3 issues during hearing in August

7/26/2012
BY TANYA IRWIN
BLADE STAFF WRITER

A Toledo Municipal Court judge declined to rule Wednesday on an East Toledo woman’s request to have her dog released from the custody of the Lucas County dog warden, and instead postponed the case for 15 days.

During the Aug. 9 hearing, scheduled for 1:30 p.m., Judge Michelle Wagner plans to rule on three issues:

  • Should Dancie Murrey’s dog, seized by the Lucas County Dog Warden’s Office following a report the dog had bitten a child July 9 resulting in 21 stitches, be released to Ms. Murrey if she shows proof that she can comply with the requirements for owning a vicious dog;
  • Can Ms. Murrey’s attorney, Phillip Browarsky, appeal the dog warden’s designation of the dog as vicious even though he did not request a hearing to dispute the designation within 10 days of the dog warden seizing the dog; and
  • If Mr. Browarsky is allowed to appeal the determination, whether the dog is vicious or dangerous.

The case was also set for pre-trial on Aug. 15 at 9 a.m. before Judge Wagner. Mr. Browarsky entered a not guilty plea on behalf of Ms. Murrey on the charge that the dog was running at large.

There is nothing in the revised dog-law section of the Ohio Revised Code, which took effect May 22, ordering a dangerous or even a vicious dog to be euthanized. Instead, the revised law gives requirements by which dog owners must abide should their dogs be declared a nuisance, dangerous, or vicious by a dog warden in Ohio.

A witness to the dog bite was in court on Wednesday on Ms. Murrey’s behalf and will likely be called at the Aug. 9 hearing, Mr. Browarsky said.

Carolynn Boose, the victim’s mother, was also in court at the dog warden’s request. Ms. Boose said the dog is vicious and should be killed. She said the dog has bitten other neighborhood children, and she plans to bring witnesses to attest to that on Aug. 9.

The dog warden has no other bite reports on the dog, however.

Ms. Boose also was scratched and bitten by the dog when she was trying to prevent her daughter, Markayla Banks, from being bitten. She received a tetanus shot for her injury. No sutures were required, she said.