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5 posts from August 2013

August 26, 2013

Pit Bull Fatal Attack: Criminal Liability? Civil Liability? Or Both?

Pit-bull 

Jacob Bisbee Two year old Jacob Bisbee was mauled to death by three pit bulls (often considered a Steven Hayashidangerous breed) owned by his step-grandfather, Steven Hayashi.  The tragedy occurred in 2010.  According to Contra Costa County prosecuting attorney Mary Knox:

 

 

  1. Hayashi repeatedly ignored pleas by his wife and Jacob’s father to remove his five pit bulls from the home the extended family shared on Trailcreek Court
  2. July 22, 2010: Hayashi was designated as the caretaker for Jacob and his four year old brother while his wife slept after a night shift.
  3. Hayashi went out to play tennis with his son, leaving Jacob and the brother unsupervised.
  4. Hayashi did not lock the door to the garage where the pit bulls were kept.  He knew the boys could uopen the door but they usually stayed in their room.
  5. Jacob wandered into the garage and found three of the five pit bulls (the other two were in the yard)

 The legal question to be answered is not whether Hayashi intended for this tragedy to happen but whether the dog attack constituted a crime.  Hayashi is currently being tried for involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment.  If found guilty, he could face up to 10 years in prison. 

 In a jailhouse interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, Hayashi acknowledged that he had ignored signs which would warn him of the dogs’ dangerous propensities.  Those signs included one of the dogs killing his Chihuahua

At the preliminary hearing, Judge Clare Maier said that there was not enough evidence to support a murder charge because there was “scant evidence” that Hayashi’s dogs had previously attacked humans.

Hayashi is seeking acquittal and is being represented by attorney David Cohen.  Over Cohen’s objections, Knox opened the trial last week by showing photos taken at a hospital of the little boy’s disfigured body. 

Cohen was quoted as saying “The D.A.’s case is all about the terrible photos and a terrible tragedy and that somebody’s got to pay.  This family and my client have suffered tremendously.  He certainly didn’t intend for this to happen.”

This is certainly a tragedy.  Whether Hayashi’s negligence will rise to the level of a guilty verdict is a question to be decided during this trial.

In civil court, someone in Hayashi’s shoes could be sued for wrongful death based on both theories of negligence and a statutory liability

In my practice I’ve represented, and continue to represent, many victims of dog attacks. This is a tragedy that could have, and should have, been avoided.

Woman argues with judge and ends up with 300 days in jail

Bottom line: Don't argue with the judge.  This woman turned an arraignment into a 300 day jail sentence.

 

ELYRIA -- Ebony Burks earned the dubious distinction earlier this month of drawing the longest jail sentence that Elyria Municipal Court Judge Gary Bennett has ever handed down for contempt of court.

Burks' 300-day stay in the Lorain County Jail came out of an Aug. 14 hearing during which she was being arraigned on domestic violence and assault charges in separate cases.

August 10, 2013

"From One Second To The Next" Documentary - It Can Wait

Xzavier, Chandler, Debbie, and Reggie all know the horrors of texting & driving firsthand. Watch their stories in this It Can Wait Documentary.

Visit http://www.itcanwait.com to take the pledge, and learn more about the dangers of texting while driving.

I represent people who have been injured in car accidents -- cars are the deadliest of weapons.  Distracted drivers who believe that they're different than other drivers, that they are in control when their eyes leave the road, are delusional. It takes no more than a split second for your car to veer off its path and strike an innocent pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclist or other car.  The injuries range from whiplash to paralysis to death.

Doing what I do for a living makes me hyperconscious of the perils of distracted driving.

When I see someone texting while driving, my blood begins to boil.  I just want to jump out of my car, run over to that person and shake them into reality, let them know that they are a millisecond away from killing someone. 

Bottom line: Please don't text while driving.

 

"From One Second To The Next" Documentary - It Can Wait

Xzavier, Chandler, Debbie, and Reggie all know the horrors of texting & driving firsthand. Watch their stories in this It Can Wait Documentary.

Visit http://www.itcanwait.com to take the pledge, and learn more about the dangers of texting while driving.

I represent people who have been injured in car accidents -- cars are the deadliest of weapons.  Distracted drivers who believe that they're different than other drivers, that they are in control when their eyes leave the road, are delusional. It takes no more than a split second for your car to veer off its path and strike an innocent pedestrian, bicyclist, motorcyclist or other car.  The injuries range from whiplash to paralysis to death.

Doing what I do for a living makes me hyperconscious of the perils of distracted driving.

When I see someone texting while driving, my blood begins to boil.  I just want to jump out of my car, run over to that person and shake them into reality, let them know that they are a millisecond away from killing someone. 

Bottom line: Please don't text while driving.

 

August 03, 2013

25 Greatest Law Novels Ever

The American Bar Association polled lawyers from all over the country and asked them to vote for their favorite.  Here's the list.  Is your favorite novel on the list?  Or do you have another novel that you prefer?  Put your answer in the comment section below!

Foreword

 

The authors represented in this list are as follows:

John Grisham, Harper Lee, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Charles Dickens, Franz Kafka, Victor Hugo, Herman Melville, Scott Turow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Tom Wolfe, Theodore Dreiser, John Jay Osborne Jr., Richard Wright, Albert Camus, Herman Wouk, Zora Neale Hurston, Leon Uris, Alexandre Dumas, Margaret Atwood, John D. Voelker, Ayn Rand, Walter Van Tilburg Clark, Jane Gardam.

I must confess that I've read very few of the novels on this list.  My tastes go toward John Grisham and Michael Connelly.  I really have to expand my world!!!

 

 

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