Dog Owner Guilty in Man’s Death : Courts: A jury determines that Charles Duarte is responsible for a pack of dogs that attacked and killed a ranch hand. The verdict is involuntary manslaughter.

In an unusual case, a Superior Court jury found Charles Duarte, a Dulzura ranch owner, guilty of involuntary manslaughter Tuesday, 1 1/2 years after his dogs fatally mauled a 69-year-old ranch hand.

The jury was deadlocked, however, on the same charge against Duarte’s live-in companion, Cynthia Ward, 47, and on a charge brought against the pair for owning what is known legally as “mischievous” dogs.

Melvin Roy Johnson was killed Dec. 12, 1989, by a pack of at least eight dogs near Duarte’s property as he walked to work at a neighboring ranch. Two of the dogs were hovering over Johnson’s body when he was discovered by a neighbor. The neighbor said he shot and killed the two dogs when they tried to attack him.

A witness said at the time of the accident that Johnson “appeared to be eaten alive” by the dogs, which were taken into custody by the San Diego County Animal Control Department.

Duarte told the court during the two-week trial that he was not the owner of the dogs but fed them a whole cooked pig once a month. He said three of the dogs belonged to his mother.

However, Duarte told the jury that he had a fence built to keep the dogs contained after being told to do so by County Animal Control, because the dogs had apparently bitten a bicyclist near the Duarte property in August, 1989.

The jury deadlocked, 10 to 2, on the charge that Duarte owns mischievous dogs that caused death; 9 to 3 on the same charge for Ward; and 7 to 5 on an involuntary manslaughter charge against Ward.

Jurors were deadlocked on all charges against Ward because it was undetermined whether she is an owner of the dogs. Ward’s attorney, public defender Mary Price, was unavailable for comment Wednesday.

Duarte, free on his own recognizance, is scheduled to be sentenced June 28 and faces a maximum four-year prison term, said prosecutor David Bost. Bost said the district attorney’s office will consider refiling charges against Ward after Duarte, 56, is sentenced.

Bost called the case “relatively rare” and said he knows of only one other incident in San Diego County in which someone was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter because of dogs. That 1982 case involved pit bulls.

The Duarte case “involved mixed breeds,” Bost said. “It was the pack behavior that contributed to the attack. . . . The circumstances are unusual.” The dogs are part Doberman pinscher and part German shepherd, he said.

Duarte’s attorney, Gilbert Newton, declined comment on the case.