Case Details

Dog-fighting, neglect
Allouez, WI (US)

Incident Date: Monday, Jul 31, 2006
County: Brown
Local Map: available
Disposition: Convicted
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony CTA

Abuser/Suspect: Kendale D. Smith

Upcoming Court Dates:
» Friday, Nov 2, 2007: sentencing

Case Updates: 5 update(s) available

Case ID: 9885
Classification: Fighting, Neglect / Abandonment
Animal: dog (pit-bull)
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A 23-year-old man accused of training pit bulls to fight in an Allouez home has been bound over for trial.

Brown County Court Commissioner Jane Sequin heard about 90 minutes of testimony today from a Brown County Sheriff�s deputy who helped search Kendale Smith�s Oakwood Avenue home and from Green Bay Police animal control officer Sharon Hensen.

Deputy John Flannery testified that he found two pit bulls penned inside a closed garage on a 95-degree day and another pit bull chained to a pole in the basement. None of the animals had food or water, Flannery said.

Deputies entered Smith�s home July 31 on an inspection warrant with the Allouez building inspector who was responding to complaints about animals left unattended in the home. Flannery said there were puddles of urine and piles of dog feces in the basement and urine-soaked woodchips in the kennel cages.

Equipment found in the home, including a large spring connected to the ceiling and a rudimentary treadmill, were used to condition dogs for fighting, Hensen said. Scars found on all three animals indicated that they had been involved in fights, she said.

Smith�s lawyer, Tim Pedretti, argued that the equipment could just as easily be used to provide the animals� exercise.

Brown County Deputy District Attorney John Luetscher admitted that much of the evidence presented at trial was circumstantial, but that it was enough to push the case to trial.

Smith faces three counts of training animals for fighting and one count of intentionally failing to provide water for an animal.

Smith is free having signed a signature bond. If convicted on all counts, Smith faces 11 years in prison.

Case Updates

An Allouez man today was found not guilty in Brown County Circuit Court of training dogs to fight, but was found guilty of neglecting his three dogs.

Brown County Circuit Judge Tim Hinkfuss issued his ruling this afternoon after a three-day trial against Kendale Smith, 24. He was ruled not guilty of three felony counts of training dogs to fight and guilty of one misdemeanor count of failure to provide food and water for a confined animal.

Neither Brown nor his attorney would comment on the ruling.

Brown County sheriff�s deputies found three pit bulls when they were called in July 2006 to Smith�s Oakwood Avenue home on a complaint of animals without food or water.

Hinkfuss decided the case because it is being heard as a trial to the court, not a jury.

Earlier this week, the shelter manager for the Bay Area Humane Society in Green Bay testified that Smith�s dogs didn�t show any signs of aggression. The two 4-month-old pit bulls were happy to see Smith when he came to visit, and the 4-year-old male wagged its tail when it saw him, she said.

Smith�s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 2.
Source: Green Bay Press Gazette - Oct 1, 2007
Update posted on Oct 2, 2007 - 12:12AM 
Urine and dog feces could be smelled from 10 feet outside the garage where authorities found two dogs they suspect were trained for fighting, the Allouez building inspector testified today.

Inspector Ralph Witte testified that the smell of urine was �overpowering� and �the ammonia from the urine actually made your eyes water� during the July 31, 2006, search of 2428 Oakwood Ave.

Witte�s observations came at the onset of the trial of Kendale Smith, the 24-year-old Allouez man charged with three counts of training dogs to fight and one count of failure to provide a confined animal with drink.

In July 2006, authorities seized three pit bulls from Smith�s Oakwood home and garage along with equipment suspected to play a role in dog fighting training. The devices included an improvised treadmill spattered with dried blood, a spring pole suspected to have been used in bite training and a collar connected to a large weight.

Smith�s trial is being presented to the court, which means Brown County Circuit Court Judge Tim Hinkfuss -- rather than a jury of 12 -- will decide his fate after the evidence is presented.

Witte testified that he and Brown County Sheriff�s deputies went to Smith�s house acting on a complaint of dogs housed without food or water. Witte noted that the temperatures were �extraordinarily hot for Wisconsin � around 95 or 96 degrees.�

Once at Smith�s home, Witte said he spotted two pit bulls in the garage without food or water and a small female pit bull chained to a pole in the basement.

If convicted on all four charges, Smith faces 11 years in prison.

Testimony is expected to continue throughout the day.
Source: Green Bay Press Gazette - Sept 25, 2007
Update posted on Sep 25, 2007 - 1:45PM 
The trial of an Allouez man facing dog fighting charges is delayed until September.

Police say they found things in Kendale Smith's home that made them believe he was training three pit bulls for fighting. The dogs have been removed from his home.

Smith was in Brown County court Tuesday morning. It was just one day after Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick agreed to plead guilty to federal dog fighting conspiracy charges, which made national headlines.

Vick's case played a big role in what happened in Brown County court with Smith's case. On the day Smith was scheduled to stand trial, attorneys instead sorted through several motions, including a request to close the courtroom to the media, with the argument that it could taint the jury if this case were compared to Vick's.

"The second circumstance that kind of aggravates the whole situation is what I think was fairly massive reporting with the regard to the Michael Vick case on every TV station -- locally, nationally, talk shows -- which I think just has the impact of focusing more attention on this case," Tim Pedretti, Smith's attorney, said.

The prosecution -- and ultimately the judge -- disagreed, saying the national case has nothing to do with this one.

"Mr. Vick in his case is entirely extraneous to what's happening in Brown County, Wisconsin, in this case," Circuit Court Judge Tim Hinkfuss said.

Hinkfuss said just because two people are charged with dog fighting doesn't mean the cases are exactly the same or that both men are guilty -- it's just that both attorneys will have to make sure potential jurors understand that.

"Mr. Kendale Smith is on trial here, not Michael Vick. That's the situation we're in, and we have an obligation to make sure the jurors understand that we keep track of what we're supposed to be doing here," Judge Hinkfuss said.

The judge also decided there were too many motions not taken care of yet, so he delayed the trial until next month.

After court, Smith's attorney told Action 2 News he's glad for the delay to let attention on Vick die down before his client is judged by a jury.

Action 2 News legal analyst Tricia Nell says images like the police removing the dogs from the home would make it hard to find potential female jurors, but as we head into the hunting and football seasons, finding potential male jurors to be impartial in a dog fighting trial could be even harder.

"In Green Bay we live, eat, and drink the Packers and the NFL, and that's just something that's really prevalent here," she noted.

Also, "In Green Bay and Wisconsin there're lots of hunters, a lot of people use hunting dogs. They consider their animals part of their family."

Nell said it could be hard to get a jury to understand just because Vick is pleading guilty doesn't mean Smith is guilty.

"People will put the link together, especially if a celebrity status is taking responsibility and saying, 'I did it, I'm guilty.' They're going to think well, geez, the human, this local here, should definitely be considered guilty."

If Michael Vick is sentenced to a short jail stay and the public isn't satisfied with the punishment, she thinks they could take it out on Kendale Smith.

"If he's not sentenced appropriately, how these local people feel he should be, they could turn that into wanting to put justice here," she said.

Regardless of when Smith's trial is held, Nell says with the Vick case becoming history, no dog fighting case, even in Green Bay, will be an easy one to try
Source: WBAY - Aug 21, 2007
Update posted on Aug 22, 2007 - 11:23AM 
Kendale D. Smith, accused of training pit bulls to fight, appeared in court on April 3rd.

He faces three counts of training animals for fighting and one count of intentionally failing to provide water for an animal.

On July 31, 2006, officers allegedly found two pit bulls penned inside a closed garage on a 95-degree day and another pit bull chained to a pole in the basement. None of the animals reportedly had food or water.

Training equipment was found in the home, including a large spring connected to the ceiling and a rudimentary treadmill. According to officials, all three dogs displayed scars consistent with illegal animal fighting.

Smith will appear in court for a final pre-trial conference on August 17, and a trial date is expected in late August.
Source: Brown County Court Case # 2006CF000875
Update posted on Apr 4, 2007 - 1:10PM 
A 23-year-old man accused of training dogs to fight in his Allouez home is scheduled to go to trial April 3.

Kendale Smith entered a not guilty plea Tuesday in Brown County Circuit Court.

Smith faces three counts of training animals to fight and one count of intentionally failing to provide water for an animal at his Oakdale Avenue home.

At a previous hearing, prosecutors contended equipment in the home � including a large spring connected to the ceiling and a rudimentary treadmill � were used to train pit bulls for fighting.

At that same hearing, Smith's attorney said the equipment might have been used for animal exercise.
Source: Green Bay Press Gazette - Jan 2, 2007
Update posted on Jan 4, 2007 - 12:53AM 

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References

Green Bay Gazette - Oct 26, 2006

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