Cooper, 57, displayed no emotion when the verdict was read but broke down after the panel was excused.
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| Verna Cooper's pit bulls |
Jurors deliberated for less than two hours before returning a verdict. Sentencing was set for Sept. 5.
Cooper was charged with attack by a dog, a third-degree felony punishable by a maximum of 10 years in prison. She was one of two people indicted on the charge last year, in what officials said were the first such charges in Travis County in at least a decade.
Prosecutors had to prove that she knew her dog was dangerous, failed to restrain it and did so recklessly.
Jurors heard testimony documenting the pit bull mix's behavior back to at least 2009, when it bit a jogger.
It and another pit bull Cooper had at the time also "scared the living dickens" out of Austin Animal Services worker Michael Parsons, who testified he had to fend the animals off by swinging his radio at them when he went to Cooper's house to serve her papers notifying her of a dangerous dog hearing after the attack on the jogger.
Both dogs were deemed dangerous, and Cooper was required to register them annually, keep them in a secure area and carry at least $100,000 in liability insurance. At the time of the March 13 attack on Gracyn Aills in North Austin, Cooper testified, her insurance had lapsed because she couldn't afford it.
The attack, which seriously injured the girl, occurred after an open house. Cooper's lawyer, Joe Sawyer, made the case that real estate agent Mary Crecelius could have left a door open, but Crecelius testified she was nearly eight months pregnant at the time and was physically incapable of moving a stack of boxes blocking the door in question.
Crecelius also testified that at the conclusion of the open house she was in the process of closing all the doors and windows and Cooper told her, "Please don't. It's a beautiful day." Crecelius further testified that Cooper later sent her numerous text messages accusing her of leaving a door open that allowed the dog to escape.
During closing arguments, defense lawyer Joe Sawyer attacked the testimony of the girl's father, Peter Aills, calling him a liar for his account of the incident and reminding the jury that the Aills family has filed a civil suit against both Cooper and the agent.
In her closing arguments earlier, Prosecutor Kim Williams had seemed to anticipate Sawyer's accusation.
"The person with the biggest motivation to lie is the person with the most at stake," Williams said.
That person, Williams said, was Verna Cooper, who testified on her own behalf Wednesday.
Aills also testified earlier that his daughter still has pain from her injuries, which required emergency surgery.
Prosecutor John Hunt argued that Cooper should have been "hypervigilant because she owned that dog" and instead exhibited a pattern of carelessness. Sawyer argued that "every time there was a problem she tried to address it" and that his client expressed great remorse at her dog's having hurt another person.
Hunt wasn't buying it.
"The protection of the community is paramount in this case," he said.
In April, Reginald Welton, 38, was sentenced to three years' probation after a judge had found him guilty of two counts of attack by dog for failing to secure his two pit bulls before they mauled a man on Christmas Day in 2010.
(Austin American-Statesman - August 2, 2012)
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