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Heat-related death causes dismissal of attack by dog cases
By media release
Sep 8, 2011

Bonham, Texas --  On Saturday, August 6, 2011, the Fannin County Sheriff’s Office discovered John Hardy Taylor deceased in his home, a recreational vehicle, located on County Road 2145 in Telephone, Texas.  After an autopsy, it was determined that Mr. Taylor’s death was caused from hyperthermia otherwise known as heat stroke.   As a result of Mr. Taylor’s death, the Fannin County Criminal District Attorney’s Office has dismissed the four felony charges of Attack by Dog pending against him.

 

Mr. Taylor was originally charged in October of 2008 for an incident in which two of his pit bull dogs escaped from a homemade pen in the back of his pick-up truck and attacked and severely injured a 44-year old woman and then attacked and injured an 11-year old girl.  The woman suffered permanent disfigurement and partial loss of use of one of her legs.  The 11-year old girl suffered a severe laceration which required plastic surgery to repair but left no lasting physical injury.  The injuries to the two victims would have been much worse but for the courage of two strangers. 

 

Mary Posey of Bonham, Texas, while driving down Main Street in Bonham saw the dogs attacking the 44-year old woman.  Ms. Posey then drove her vehicle up onto the curb and threw her body in-between the dogs and the woman while kicking and screaming at the dogs.  The dogs then ran away towards the Creative Arts Center in Bonham where they then attacked the 11-year old girl.  Amilia Hernandez of Trenton, Texas, an employee of the Creative Arts Center saw the attack and armed only with a broom came to the defense of the girl.  Faced with Ms. Hernandez’s vigorous defense of the young girl, the dogs retreated and returned to Mr. Taylor’s vehicle still parked on Main Street where Mr. Taylor contained them and turned them over to the City of Bonham’s Animal Control Officers.  After a hearing, the dogs were determined to be “dangerous dogs” and were euthanized.

 

The four cases against Mr. Taylor were charged under a 2007 law known as “Lillian’s Law” which took effect September 1, 2001.  Lillian’s Law makes people criminally responsible for an attack by their dog if a person is the owner of a dog and the person, with criminal negligence, fails to secure the dog and the dog makes an unprovoked attack on another person that occurs at a location other than the owner's real property or in or on the owner's motor vehicle or boat and that attack causes serious bodily injury or death to the other person; or if a person is the owner of a dog, knows the dog is a dangerous dog by learning in a manner described by Texas Law, and the dangerous dog makes an unprovoked attack on another person that occurs at a location other than a secure enclosure in which the dog is restrained in accordance with Texas Law and that attack causes serious bodily injury or death to the other person.

 

At a pre-trial hearing Mr. Taylor, through his defense attorney, argued that “Lillian’s Law” was unconstitutional because it imposed a universal duty to act and failed to impose a required mental state.  Since “Lillian’s Law” had just recently been enacted, there was no judicial precedent or previous challenges for guidance.  Being a case of first impression, our local district court was the first to be presented with this issue.  After the hearing, Laurine Blake, Judge of the 336th District Court of Fannin County, Texas agreed with the defense and quashed or dismissed the cases against Mr. Taylor.  The state appealed the court’s ruling to the Sixth District Court of Appeals in Texarkana, Texas, and the court overturned Judge Blake’s ruling finding the statute was not unconstitutional but affirmed Judge Blake’s quashing the indictment and returned those cases to the court for possible further action.  Then both sides—the State and the Defense—sought further clarification of the law from the Court of Criminal Appeals in Austin, but the Court of Criminal Appeals declined to exercise its discretion authority to review the cases.

 

In April of 2011, two of Mr. Taylor’s four indictments were re-indicted based on the decision from the Sixth Court of Appeals, and a warrant for Mr. Taylor’s arrest was issued.  Mr. Taylor was arrested in June of 2011 and his cases were set for appearance in the 336th District Court of Fannin County, Texas.  After his appearance in court in July of 2011 but before his trial, Mr. Taylor died.  While we are disappointed at losing the opportunity to seek justice for the victims of Mr. Taylor’s failure to control his dogs, we have sympathy for his loved ones and would not wish his fate on anyone, said Richard Glaser, Criminal District Attorney of Fannin County, Texas.  Mr. Glaser also said that he wanted to use this opportunity to make sure that dog owners are aware that they can be held criminally responsible for unprovoked attacks by their dogs if the dog owner is negligent in failing to secure their dog.  “That means if you own a dog and that dog attacks someone without provocation and the attack causes serious bodily injury or death, you could be subject to prosecution if you were negligent in failing to secure your dog.”