Metropolitan Court Judge Sandra Engel ordered a pre-sentence report on Maria Escamilla before setting a sentencing hearing. Separately, she was convicted in October before a different judge of having dogs at large – an incident that occurred after the death of Duncan, the Maltese.
Both sets of convictions involve violations of city code. The charges of which Escamilla was acquitted were violations of state law.
The jury heard testimony from nine witnesses starting Monday and began deliberating Wednesday morning.
Assistant District Attorney Nina Eydelman said after the verdict that the charges of dogs running loose – just a week after the attack on Jack Cash and Duncan in the Ventana Ranch neighborhood – could support a sentence reflecting greater culpability, although the charges involving Duncan’s death were “more egregious.”
“She’d been told to keep all the dogs inside,” Eydelman said of Escamilla.
But Max Pines, who defended Escamilla with Hadley Brown of the Law Office of the Public Defender, said their client did not know the dogs – Benji, Roco and Xena – were dangerous. He said there were no recorded complaints against Escamilla when her dogs set upon Cash and Duncan from behind.
Pines said Escamilla has complied with the administrative remedies ordered, including a $100,000 insurance policy covering each dog, and having a fence of adequate height.
Cash said he was disappointed that Escamilla was cleared of the most serious charges. He said that he and his girlfriend, Jennifer Braziel, did not know Escamilla before the attack, but that she has since approached the couple to shout at them, as has a young woman living in the home.
Cash also suggested Escamilla’s claim to love her animals is belied by what he described as her feces-strewn yard, and testimony that the dogs deliberately weren’t walked so they would be more protective of the yard.
Escamilla’s brother testified that he didn’t take the dogs to parks so they would become accustomed to the backyard.
Pines said he would oppose an overly restrictive sentence. The state, he said, offered two options in pretrial negotiations – euthanizing the dogs or jail time. Escamilla refused both, resulting in the trial.
Eydelman said that the probation department can look up all issues at sentencing and get input from neighbors. Sentencing in the case, tried before Judge John Duran, is set for Dec. 17.
State law permits any conviction in Metro Court to be appealed to District Court for a new trial.
Cash, meanwhile, said he is preparing a civil lawsuit because of injuries from his multiple bite wounds and injury to his shoulder during the encounter involving Duncan.
(ABQ Journal - Nov 25, 2015)
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