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Case #4114 Rating: 3.1 out of 5
Dog-fighting - 23 dogs seized
Mobile, AL (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Dec 30, 2003
County: Mobile
Disposition: Convicted
Defendants/Suspects:
» Walter Tyrone Ware
» Tanisa Latrice Ware - Acquitted
» Maurice Deon Rogers - Acquitted
» Shaun Eugene Jones - Acquitted
» Larry Howell - Acquitted
Case Updates: 2 update(s) available
A Mobile husband and wife and three associates, all charged in an alleged dog fighting ring, faced a Mobile County Circuit Court jury Wednesday (March 16, 2005). As the trial got underway late in the afternoon before Circuit Judge Charles Graddick, prosecutors alleged that Walter Tyrone Ware, 33, his wife, Tanisa Latrice Ware, 31, Maurice Deon Rogers, 22, Shaun Eu gene Jones, 23, and Larry Howell, 24, were involved in the training, conditioning and fighting of pit bulls.
Just before the New Year in late 2003, officials raided the Ware family's Boykin Boulevard home off Dauphin Island Parkway and found 23 pit bulls either chained or in cages, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Wright told jurors.
She said that the state would produce expert witnesses in such matters who would provide explanations for some of the devices and drugs seized during the raid -- such as running wheels and steroids, among other things.
Five Mobile attorneys told jurors in defense of their clients during Wednesday's opening statements that the pit bulls were being raised to sell as pets, not for fighting.
The three younger men on trial, their attorneys said, were only there the day of the raid to help their friends, the Wares, recapture one of the pit bulls that had escaped.
Case UpdatesA judge sentenced Walter Tyrone War to 40 years in prison Thursday for dog fighting and possession of steriods that could be used to enhance the dogs' performance in battle.
Mr. Ware, 33, who was convicted last month, was sentenced by Circuit Judge Charles Graddick to 20 years on six counts of dog fighting and 20 years for possession of a controlled substance, Stanozolol, an injectable steroid. The sentences are to run consecutively.
At trial, several of the state's witnesses testified that about 20 of the 23 pit bulls found on Ware's property Dec. 30, 2003 were disfigured with several injuries. All were dehydrated and emaciated to various degrees. Most had scars indicating old wounds to their legs and muzzles, and most were tethered on heavy logging chains, keeping them just out of reach of each other.
"The judge's actions definitely sent a message to the dog fighting community: if you're going to be involved in felony-level dog fighting, you may pay the price for it," said Sandy Christiansen of Tallahassee, Fla., regional coordinator of the Humane Society of the United States.
Christiansen, who testified at Ware's trial as an expert in dog fighting, said the only other comparable sentence to his knowledge came in a South Carolina case where an offender was given 20 years for dog fighting and 10 years for assault.
Ware, who had a federal drug conviction in the 1990s, was taken into state custody following sentencing Thursday.
The prosecutor, Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Wright, said the lengthy sentence was related to Ware's criminal history and the "disturbing" facts of the animal-cruelty case.
"We are extremely pleased with the sentence in this case. The 23 dogs were in very bad shape," Wright said.
Ware's attorney, Robert Clark, was unavailable for comment on a possible appeal.
Christiansen said in a telephone interview Thursday that Ware's dogs had "significant signs of having been fought on numerous occasions." He said the steroids were given to boost the dog's fighting performance.
All the dogs removed from the property were eventually euthanized. | | Update posted on Apr 22, 2005 - 8:15AM |
Walter Tyrone Ware, who went on trial this week charged with six counts of activities related to dog fighting and possession of a controlled substance was found guilty on all counts Friday.
His wife, Tanisa Latrice Ware, was acquitted of her dog fighting-related charges by the same Mobile County Circuit Court jury after deliberating an hour.
During the trial, several prosecution witnesses described the physical condition of 23 pit bulls found Dec. 30, 2003, on the Ware's property as gruesome.
According to testimony, only two or three of the dogs were not disfigured with multiple injuries. All were dehydrated and emaciated to various degrees. Most had scars indicating old wounds to their legs and muzzles.
Dr. John Symes, a Mobile veterinarian, told jurors the wounds had been caused by other dogs.
When law enforcement officials raided Ware's Boykin Boulevard home they found most of the dogs tethered on heavy logging chains, witnesses said. The lengths of chains kept them just out of reach of the others.
Witnesses said that with the exception of one pit bull, who was vicious toward man and beast, the animals' reactions to the law enforcement and animal control officials were benign, even affectionate. They wagged their tails and allowed the humans to approach and handle them.
But Symes said that when they were taken to an animal control facility and given proximity but not access to one another, there was a "Jekyll and Hyde transformation ... they went crazy" -- biting, growling, snapping and lunging with "explosive aggression" at the cage wire separating them.
This behavior, the vet said, indicated both their training and fate.
"I have no doubt in my mind they were used for dog fighting," Symes said.
One's dog's tongue was missing, witnesses said. It could neither eat nor drink. Some of the animals had had teeth wrenched from their mouths. Many were so ill-fed, their ribs and vertebrae were showing. One female appeared to be in medical shock.
Six of the pit bulls had fresh wounds and were covered in blood, witnesses said.
Walter Ware also faced a charge of possession of steroids, which prosecutors said was used to make the pit bulls stronger, more durable and more aggressive.
Every one of the 23 dogs taken from the Ware property was eventually euthanized by authorities. The first to die was the one with the missing tongue.
A defense attorney called the officials "dog killers."
Originally, three other men were charged with lesser crimes in connection with what amounted to a raid on the Ware property in late 2003.
This week they went to trial along with the Wares before Circuit Judge Charles Graddick. Friday afternoon the three men's attorneys asked for and received from Graddick a directed verdict of acquittal and they walked free.
Mobile attorneys Robert "Cowboy Bob" Clark and Dom Soto represented the Wares. They argued at the end of the trial that various pieces of equipment prosecutors described as training equipment to make pit bulls fight -- treadmills, ropes, baited wheels and other bits of gear -- were not gladiator-like tools but everyday gadgets used in showing and breeding the dogs.
Tanisa Ware, 31, testified she didn't know about the dogs on her property in south Mobile, and never saw them.
Walter Ware, 33, did not testify.
Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Wright said outside court the prosecution of Ware was the first trial in Alabama under the new statutes regarding dog fighting.
She warned there would be more. | | Update posted on Mar 21, 2005 - 4:26AM |
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