Local News in Brief : Mistrial in Pit Bull Case
A mistrial was declared Friday in the case of a woman charged with assault with a deadly weapon for an attack in which a television crew filmed her pit bull mauling an animal control worker.
Superior Court Commissioner Florence Cooper declared the mistrial after jurors who deliberated for nine days deadlocked 9 to 3 to convict Edlyn Joy Hauser, 38, of Glassell Park. Animal control worker Florence Crowell, 34, was attacked outside Hauser’s home by the 55-pound pit bull, Benjamin, on June 22, 1987. The incident prompted numerous pit bull owners to turn their dogs in to animal control workers to be destroyed.
Crowell, who was investigating an attack by the dog on two of Hauser’s neighbors the night before, was hospitalized for five days for bite wounds to both hands and a breast.
Prosecutors are expected to try the case again.
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