The dogs of Edward Biggs Jr. and his adult son Casey, a bull mastiff, a pit bull-mastiff mix and an American bulldog mix, got loose from their home on Sept. 10, 2010, before they attacked the women who were out on predawn runs on Pavilion Drive.
“This is a horrific and tragic thing. I believe the jury’s verdict in this case was just,” said John F. Baumgardner, defense attorney for Casey Biggs.
“This did not belong in the criminal court,” said Daniel Russo, defense attorney for Edward Biggs Jr.
After the verdicts, one juror said their decisions came down to the definition of “viciousness” and the history of the three dogs involved in the attacks.
One mauling victim suffered crippling injuries from bite wounds that required hundreds of stitches and several days in the hospital. The other woman received 30 stitches for her bite wounds.
The dog attack was interrupted by neighbors who heard cries for help and saw the dogs attacking the women. All three dogs were shot and wounded by the neighbors. The dogs were later euthanized.
Both mauling victims sued the Biggs family. The less severely injured woman settled her lawsuit.
Attorneys for the second mauling victim were in court last week when a December civil jury trial was scheduled. Note takers for the attorneys in the civil action attended every day of the two-week criminal trial.
The prosecutor argued unsuccessfully that the Biggs family previously had five instances of their large dogs getting loose from their fenced property. The dogs attacked another dog in 2008, killed a neighbor’s newborn calf and frightened other neighbors.
Defense attorneys emphasized that those attacks mostly involved other Biggs family dogs and had not involved aggressive actions toward people.
(Daily Republic - May 7, 2013)
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