Dogs get temporary stay of execution

Sylvania Township pets accused of killing Monroe Co. pigs

3/18/2014
BLADE STAFF
  • CTY-dogs05p-2

    Dogs, Bugger, left, and Nala, upper right. These two dogs were found responsible for killing two show-quality pigs and injuring a third in May 2013.

  • Katalin, left, and Janni Juhasz, owners of the two husky dogs accused of killing pigs in Michigan.
    Katalin, left, and Janni Juhasz, owners of the two husky dogs accused of killing pigs in Michigan.

    Dogs, Bugger, left, and Nala, upper right. These two dogs were found responsible for killing two show-quality pigs and injuring a third in May 2013.
    Dogs, Bugger, left, and Nala, upper right. These two dogs were found responsible for killing two show-quality pigs and injuring a third in May 2013.

    MONROE — A judge in Monroe County Circuit Court today issued a temporary stay of execution for two Sylvania Township dogs found guilty of killing pigs.

    Judge Michael LaBeau issued the ruling during a brief hearing to decide whether the case would be extended while the matter is appealed to the Michigan Court of Appeals. The dogs, owned by Janni Juhasz, 49, and her daughter, Katalin Juhasz, 22, originally had been scheduled to be put to death on Friday in accordance with a Michigan state law from 1919.

    The Juhaszes own a husky mix named Bugger and a husky named Nala. The huskies were found May 2 inside a barn on Whiteford Center Road just north of the Ohio-Michigan state line and a little more than a mile from their home.

    It was there that two show-quality pigs owned by Stephanie Sonnenberg had been killed and a third was injured. Ms. Sonnenberg said she witnessed the dogs attacking the surviving pig, and said one of them tried to attack her. She was able to restrain the dogs until Monroe County Animal Control arrived to take custody of them.

    Nala and Bugger have been kept there ever since, and the Juhaszes have not been allowed to visit them.