The State : Murder Trial for Dog Owner
The owner of a pit bull terrier that killed a 2-year-old boy while allegedly guarding a marijuana patch may be tried for second-degree murder, the 6th District state Court of Appeal ruled in San Jose. The three-judge panel said that Michael P. Berry, an unemployed construction worker, may also be tried on charges of marijuana cultivation and keeping a fighting dog. The boy, James Soto, of Morgan Hill, was killed June 13, 1987, when he wandered into a side yard of Berry’s home where the tethered dog apparently guarded 243 marijuana plants.
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