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Case #11572 Rating: 3.5 out of 5
Dog-fighting - 6 dogs seized
Houston, TX (US)Incident Date: Saturday, Sep 30, 2006
County: Harris
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Rogdrick Howard
» Jerrod Byrd
Two men charged with dog fighting were given a maximum one year sentence in county jail after a jury found them guilty in about 18 minutes.
Defendants Rogdrick Howard and Jerrod Byrd were found guilty on June 19, 2007 by a six-member jury in the one-day trial. The men were taken into custody immediately.
"I know it's a problem in the past we've ignored. We're not going to look the other way," said Harris County prosecutor Belinda Smith. "It's (the verdict) a validation that I'm doing the right thing for a lot of good reasons."
The case, the first attempt by the district attorney's office to prosecute a street-level dog fighting case, signals a change in strategy in combating the activity, which prosecutors say is a problem for many neighborhoods.
The incident occurred in October.
In his opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Eric Bily told the jury, "Our case is about these two defendants and their disrespect for the law and disrespect of the dogs they owned and fought."
Houston police officer D.J. Small testified that when he arrived at the scene he saw the defendants standing over two dogs as they fought.
Small described one of the dogs, a black pit bull, as the "winner" and the other, a tan pit bull, as the "loser." He testified that there was a collar and chain at the feet of both defendants and that they did not appear to try to stop the dogs from fighting.
Small also testified that in addition to the two dogs that were fighting that there were two other dogs on the property that had fresh wounds and blood on them.
A change in state law that takes effect Sept. 1 makes dog fighting a felony, punishable by up to two years in state jail, instead of a Class A misdemeanor. As a Class A misdemeanor, the crime is punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000.
Smith said the DA's office will work in August with Crime Stoppers to publicize changes in the law.
"We're going to give everyone a heads up. People need to get their act together that we would prosecute them," she said.
Jurors Becky Downs and Jon Martin said the most compelling witness of the day was the defendants' neighbor, Juanita Guidry who testified matter-of-factly about seeing the two men provoke the dogs to fight. The jurors also said that the conditions of the dogs were also key to their guilty verdict.
"It was very obvious by the testimony of the vet the condition of the dogs didn't just occur that day," said Martin.
Defense Attorney Joe Ray Rodriguez had asked the one-man, five-woman jury to give the men probation since neither had ever been convicted of a felony.
Byrd was the only witness for the defense. He testified that a stray dog had come into their yard and attacked one of their pit bulls that were chained in the yard.
In his closing statement Rodriguez told the jury that the state had not proven that the defendants caused the dogs to fight.
"This is a very important case to a whole lot of people," he told the jury.
Timothy Harkness, the Houston Humane Society's chief vet, testified that two of the six dogs taken from the property died from stress related to the fighting and other internal problems.
One dog had a puncture wound to the neck and top of head that he estimated to be a week old. Another dog had puncture wound to trachea and had multiple older scars that Harkness testified were from previous fights. References« TX State Animal Cruelty Map
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