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| The faces of pit bull breeders |
Alba Medina Cornelio, 39, and her 19-year-old daughter, Carla Ramirez Cornelio, are charged with two felony counts of having a mischievous animal that causes serious bodily injury and six misdemeanor code violations, including failing to protect the public from a dog and owning a dangerous dog. They each face more than three years in prison if convicted.
Deputy District Attorney Makenzie Harvey told a judge at the defendants' arraignment that Emako Mendoza was attacked in her fenced-in yard right after she went outside to get the morning paper on June 18. The victim had her left arm amputated below the elbow and her left leg amputated below the knee, Harvey said.
"The dogs, we believe, got through a gap that's in the defendants' fence, and then pushed through some barbed wire that the victim had in place to sort of cover the gap on their portion of the yard," the prosecutor said.
Harvey alleged the defendants knew they had dangerous dogs because the same two pit bulls escaped from their yard last Christmas Day and attacked a man who was walking his puppy. The puppy was badly injured and the man was bitten.
[NOTE: What did Animal Services do about this? Why were these pit bulls not declared dangerous after this incident?]
After the latest attack, Alba Cornelio allowed animal service officers to euthanize her two 6-year-old pit bulls and their 3-week-old puppies.
At the conclusion of Thursday's preliminary hearing, a judge will decide if enough evidence was presented for the defendants to stand trial.
(10news - Sept 8, 2011)
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