This group is dedicated in Tony's memory, to keep fighting for Justice for him. He may be gone, but he will never be forgotten! Let's try to change the laws so that this terrible tragedy doesn't happen again to any other innocent dog. And as in these words written by Denise Carey -Costa...We all need to take a stand on this and right this wrong, apathy in itself is a crime. We all need to send a s
trong message to those in authority that they are not above the law. To never again allow a dog like Tony to be put to death at the personal whim of someone who is acting out of anger instead of fairness and objectivity. Tony’s Arrest
Friday, November 18th, 2011, started out like any other day of the week. Shelly was home cleaning her house getting ready for Heather and Dave to come up for the weekend. Tony and Tuppy were playing outside when suddenly Shelly heard them barking. She went to the side bedroom door and was met by an Animal Control officer who stated he was there to take her dogs. Shelly was shocked and asked him what proof he had and to show her some type of warrant. Shelly quickly got the dogs safely into the house and locked the door. Then she went to the other doors and locked them too. She yelled out to the officers telling them there was no way they were going to take her dogs away. Lorrie’s caregiver went out to talk to the officers and find out what was going on. They would not let her go back into the house to take care of Lorrie. Shelly immediately called Heather and Bill and told them what was going on. Heather told her to stay in the house. Bill wanted to talk to the Animal Control officer to get some kind of explanation, so she went outside, handed her cell phone to the Animal Control officer and then she went back into the house. While Bill was talking to the officer two more Greenlee County deputies showed up. The Sheriff knocked on the Shelly’s door and she went out to get her cell phone. This time they would not allow her to go back into her house, even though Lorrie was left alone inside. A deputy handcuffed Shelly, when she attempted to walk down Lorrie’s wheelchair ramp in front of the house. They further detained her by putting her arms around the ramp poles and holding her there. The deputies continued to use intimidation tactics until Shelly gave in and agreed to turn her dogs over to them. The deputies and Animal Control Officers followed her into the house. All three dogs, Tuppy, Faith and Tony were hiding in the bedroom, scared by all of the activity going on around them. Shelly was devastated at having to put her dogs in the back of the Animal Control truck. Seeing their trusting, loving faces while they did exactly what she told them, not even knowing where they were going, broke her heart. She begged the Animal Control Officer over and over again to please take care of her dogs and he assured her he would. He told her she could go by the shelter on Monday to see her dogs and pick up the paperwork disclosing the reason they were being seized from her home. That weekend was especially tense. Everyone felt the emptiness in the house caused by the absence of the three dogs. All were concerned for the dogs’ well being and wondered how they were faring at the shelter. On Monday, November 21st, 2011 Shelly immediately went to Animal Control to see her dogs. They were in locked cages and all appeared to be ok physically but understandably scared and confused having been separated from their family, and their home. According to the paperwork submitted, Shelly’s dogs had been accused of killing a little dog that lived up the street from them on November 16th, 2011. A hearing was scheduled for November 23, 2011. Shelly thought back to the events of November 16th and remembered clearly that the dogs had been with her all day. She had stepped out to get the mail and the dogs went out with her. She ran inside for a few minutes to answer a phone call and when she returned back outside, her dogs were all lying peacefully on the front porch. None of them had any blood on their faces or bodies to indicate they had attacked or had been attacked by another animal. Later that day on the 21st Shelly got an emergency call from Animal Control telling her that Tuppy and Faith had escaped when one of the Animal Control workers left the side door open. Shelly rushed out to search the neighborhood. She finally found her dogs wet and muddy, with tails wagging, thrilled to see her. They wanted so badly to go home. Shelly took Tuppy and Faith home and the next morning she called the Animal Control Office. Once again she had to go through the pain of seeing her beloved dogs shoved into the back of a truck and taken away. On November 23rd, Shelly and Bill and Lorrie’s caregiver went to the first hearing presided by a Justice of the Peace and the prosecuting attorney. There were five counts of class two misdemeanors filed against Shelly, two were for dogs at large, two were for no license or vaccination records and one was for biting and having a “vicious” dog. Apparently the neighbor’s dog was found outside with deep puncture wounds that eventually led to the dog’s death. Shelly’s dogs were blamed because they were near the dog barking when it was discovered. However, there was a strong possibility that the Chihuahua was killed by a coyote and that Shelly’s dogs had actually scared it away from the Chihuahua by barking. The court was insistent that Shelly’s dogs were responsible for the act although there was no physical evidence or eyewitnesses. Shelly was offered a court appointed attorney to represent her. She accepted the offer but then the judge talked her out of it saying it really wasn’t necessary for this type of case. So Shelly waived her right to an attorney. She entered a plea of not guilty and another hearing was set for December 15th 2011. Shelly continued to comply with all of the court’s requests although she missed her dogs terribly especially, during the holiday season. She visited them almost every day and brought snacks and treats. She wanted them to feel secure knowing she still loved them and had not abandoned them. The Saturday after Thanksgiving she took ham and turkey to them since they had missed the holiday dinner. She noticed poor Tony had lost his voice. He could not even bark. It could have been caused by the emotional distress he was enduring or the conditions of the shelter. December 15th 2011 arrived and neither party could reach an agreement. The prosecution stated she needed more time to talk to Animal Control and her clients (the neighbors claiming their dog was killed by Shelly’s dogs). So the hearing was rescheduled for January 27, 2012. Meanwhile, Shelly’s dogs Tuppy, Faith and Tony were being held and punished for no reason at Animal Control. None had been charged with a crime. At no time during these hearings was a forensic report or investigation done linking the dogs to the crime. Secondly, the Chihuahua’s owner first stated she saw Tony attack her dog, and then recanted this statement later on by saying the only thing she saw was Tuppy and Faith standing over her dog barking and that she didn’t actually see any of them attack her dog. So, from the very beginning the prosecutions case and evidence was unraveling. On December 21st, 2011 Shelly went to the court to give them the names of the witnesses she would be using at the bench trial hearing. The Judge was there and she told Shelly she really should have a court appointed attorney and to submit a written request for one, which she did. A court appointed attorney was selected and met with Shelly at her house a few days later to discuss the case and meet with her witnesses. None of dogs were home for the Christmas holidays, which made it a dismal event. Shelly took snickerdoodle cookies to the pound for all of them to enjoy. They had always been Tony’s favorite Christmas cookies. On January 26th, 2012 the day before the hearing the defense attorney presented Shelly with a letter from the prosecutor offering a plea bargain. The stipulations included that Shelly plead no contest to the charges, pay some fines, pay animal control the holding fees for all three dogs, and have a fence built around her property to secure her dogs. If she complied she would get the dogs released back with her. Shelly had been trying to get a fence built for awhile but the shortage of funds had delayed this project. Shelly had held yard sales and sold everything she could to get the money for a fence but she couldn’t raise enough. Since she was desperate to get her dogs back she took the advice of her attorney. She entered a plea of no contest and signed all of the necessary paperwork. She also worked out a payment plan for the fines owed and wrote a letter of apology to her neighbor. When these steps were completed, the prosecutor suddenly dropped an unexpected bombshell. She told the court that the neighbors/owners of the Chihuahua wanted one of Shelly’s three dogs put to sleep. This appeared to be a vindictive act; since they lost their dog they wanted Shelly to lose one of her dogs. No one had ever warned her that this was also a condition of the plea bargain. If she had known she never would have signed or agreed to it. The whole thing was extremely unethical and underhanded. At this point a plea agreement had been entered and the case should have been closed, but the judge set a bench trial hearing for February 23, 2012 to hear testimony from witnesses regarding the euthanasia of one of the dogs because at the last minute the prosecutor requested that the neighbors wanted one of the dogs to die. On February 23rd, without any physical evidence or eye witness testimonies, the judge made a decision that Tony was the guilty dog and would be euthanized on February 27th, 2012 before 4 pm. All those who knew Tony considered this a total wrong doing and miscarriage of justice on the judges part. According to the vet’s exam of the Chihuahua, the dog suffered severe puncture wounds that damaged the inner organs and resulted in death. Tony could not have been the dog responsible for this act. Not only was he known to be friendly with all other dogs and animals but he had broken front teeth! Tony had most likely been the hero in the situation, by frightening away the animal that was actually attacking the dog. Tony had been singled out to be punished for this crime because of his breed being part Pit Bull. When Shelly and Bill heard this they were shocked and horrified. Imagining their sweet, loving dog being put to death was more than they could bear. There was absolutely no concrete evidence linking Tony to the crime and furthermore Shelly had complied with all of the courts stipulations regarding her dogs. This was a clear cut case of breed prejudice and a judge not being objective in her decision making process. With broken hearts, Shelly and Bill went to visit Tony. It was a very emotional scene because they both knew they would not ever see him again. Tony was so happy to see them, hoping once again in his heart that they were there to finally take him out of that dark dungeon. On February 24th, Shelly and a friend went to visit Tony and pray over him. Shelly has always had a strong spiritual faith and believed in the power of prayer. That day, Shelly decided she was going to fight for Tony and try anything possible to save him from an untimely death. She was not going to go quietly and betray her beloved dog who had served her with nothing but love and loyalty for almost eight years. She got on Facebook and contacted all of her friends. Shelly’s friend immediately went through the proper channels and launched a petition on Causes to stop the euthanasia of Tony. 3,000 signatures were obtained over the weekend. People everywhere were angered by the case which involved an innocent dog being court ordered to die for no tangible reason. The fight for Tony had begun and would spread like wildfire into something larger than Shelly, Heather or Bill could have ever have imagined...
