A police officer testified that on October 12, 1975, he entered a building in the Village of Holly, Oakland County, and discovered in it a wooden structure, which he referred to as an arena, together with a number of people. One of the defendants, a Robert Harvey Jones, was holding a dog in one corner of the arena and another, Phillip Charles Cumper, held a dog in another portion. As the officer entered, Cumper threw the animal over the railing to the defendant, Brian Swarthout. The officer testified there was considerable blood in the area and the Cumper's shirt "was heavily saturated with a red type substance". The dog which Cumper had held had a wound in the chest area and a red substance around his nose and mouth. He testified that the other defendants, Linda Ann Jones, Charles Tyrone Napier and John Carl Rozmus, were present. The seventh defendant, Homer Arnold Johnson, had started to leave the building at the time the officer had entered. Stains taken from the area and on a shirt were identified as dog blood. In or near the arena were two hammer handles that had been sharpened.
There was testimony that at least two of the defendants, Cumper and Swarthout, had gone to a store in Flint and had purchased indoor-outdoor carpeting to be used in the arena at Holly. The salesman testified that they told him that they intended to have dog fights at Holly. A doctor of veterinary medicine testified that the dogs were Staffordshire Terriers. He also testified that this breed of dogs was normally not harmful to humans, but was very aggressive toward other dogs. Two of the dogs involved had cropped ears and he stated this was commonly done to prospective fighting dogs.
Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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