Alba Cornelio, 41, and her daughter, Carla Cornelio, 21, have been charged with involuntary manslaughter and owning mischievous animals that caused death — both felonies — as well as six misdemeanors. The pair face up to four years and eight months in prison if convicted. The trial in San Diego Superior Court is expected to last about two weeks.
James Mendoza, who had lived at the home on Alleghany Street in Paradise Hills for 43 years, testified that the Cornelios’ pit bulls had never escaped into his neighboring yard before the June 18, 2011, attack.
So he was surprised when his neighbors came to his door that morning, insistently asking if they could get their dogs from his backyard.
Moments later, he found his 75-year-old wife, Emako Mendoza, lying bloodied in her flower garden. Alba Cornelio became hysterical when she saw the scene, he testified.
The dogs had left the yard by then, escaping through a hole in the southeast corner of the fence dividing the neighbors’ yards.
A San Diego police officer who was the first to arrive on the scene said the gap in the fence was marked with blood, and the two dogs were also covered in blood after the attack.
Mendoza recounted the trauma his wife sustained, including the immediate hospital amputation of her left arm and leg. After infection had set in, the limbs had to be amputated even higher.
“She just suffered a lot, a lot of suffering,” he said. “She was constantly in pain.”
Doctors tried to save her right leg and arm, but a severe infection meant the right leg also had to go.
“She was really depressed after that surgery,” Mendoza said. “She completely changed.”
His wife died at the age of 76 on Christmas Eve of that year from complications of her injuries.
Much of Tuesday’s testimony revolved around the hole in the wooden fence. Mendoza said the gap had been made a few years earlier, when other neighbors behind the Cornelios cut a portion before installing another chain link fence.
He said the Cornelios tried to put up timber over the hole, but it didn’t seem sufficient to keep the dogs out. So Mendoza, a handyman, bolted a chain link gate over it.
He said he saw the gate a few days before the attack, and it appeared to be holding fine.
The police officer testified that when he inspected the Cornelios’ backyard right after the attack, he found empty food and water bowls.
(UT San Diego - Jan 29, 2013)
Earlier:
- California woman loses leg to pit bull attack
- 2 plead not guilty in dog attack on older SD woman
- Judge: Mother, daughter to stay away from woman attacked by pit bulls
- Hearing Today For 2 Women Accused In Pit Bull Attack
- Woman mauled by pit bulls dies after third amputation
- Our take on: Pit bull mayhem
