Judge Can’t Confine Bruno : Pair, Sentenced for Dog’s Attacks, Get Pit Bull Back

A couple convicted of harboring a vicious animal took their pit bull home this week after the judge who confined it last year rescinded his order.

But a deputy Los Angeles city attorney, anticipating that Bruno might be freed, filed a lawsuit March 10 asking that the dog--blamed for three attacks in 1987--be destroyed because it threatens public health and safety.

“I’m afraid the dog is going to wind up killing somebody,” Deputy City Atty. Nicholas J. Fratianne said Wednesday.

Fratianne said he will ask the court to order the dog destroyed when Darla and Harry Grizelle, formerly of Tujunga, are sentenced March 28. Each faces up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

After a weeklong trial that concluded Nov. 3, the Grizelles were each convicted of two misdemeanor charges of maintaining a public nuisance and allowing a vicious animal to run loose on the street.

In the most severe of last year’s attacks, Fratianne said, Bruno bit a 75-year-old woman on her arms and neck. She sought medical attention but was not hospitalized. Fratianne said the heavy coat the woman was wearing saved her life.

After the conviction, Van Nuys Municipal Judge Michael J. Farrell, who presided over the case, placed the dog in the custody of a state humane officer.

Bruno was boarded at the Dog Star Kennel in Sunland, where he was regarded as “such a gentleman, you expect him to have cologne on,” according to Jean Gregory, who helps operate the facility.

Last month, defense attorney Frederic J. Warner appealed Farrell’s decision on behalf of the Grizelles, arguing that the judge had no authority to remove Bruno from the Grizelles’ home.

But, before a ruling could be issued, the appellate section of the city attorney’s office agreed there was no law to support Farrell’s order.

Saying he did not have authority in the matter, the judge Tuesday rescinded his earlier ruling and Bruno was allowed to go home. The Grizelles, who now live near Tujunga, picked up the dog that day, Gregory said.