Dog Attacks Boy, Dad Attacks Dog, Jury Caught in Middle

Maybe you had to be there. Maybe it’s impossible to mete out justice here unless you were there for the attack.

Both of them.

I’ve tried to picture both attacks, and each makes my stomach turn.

Now an Orange County jury gets to decide, and you can bet they don’t want the job either.

You probably remember the case. On July 30, Alan Roberts stopped at a coffeehouse in Huntington Beach to use the restroom. His wife and 19-month-old son, Andrew, waited in the parking lot. Just then, an Akita that had run free from its owner’s house approached and, for whatever reason, locked its jaws on Andrew’s face for about five seconds. The boy’s parents drove him immediately to a hospital, where he received about 60 stitches.

No jury would have trouble relating to the trauma of that attack.

But that isn’t what the jury will decide. Rather, it will hear a misdemeanor case filed against the father, who an hour after the attack on his son returned to the dog’s home and beat him to death with a baseball bat. The dog’s owner, April Wyld, alleges that Roberts beat Kaya while he was lying down and tied to a fence. Wyld also has claimed in a separate civil suit that Roberts, while beating the dog in the presence of her and neighbors, threatened them with harm if they intervened.

Roberts has filed a countersuit against Wyld, seeking unspecified damages for her dog’s attack on his son. The misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals carries a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a $20,000 fine, according to the district attorney’s office.

There already was a rush to judgment in the case--by some angry citizens. After it hit the papers, the Robertses had to move out of their house temporarily, so beset were they with angry calls from animal-rights supporters. “They’re not asking about my son,” Roberts said then, adding that Andrew already had done some professional modeling before the attack but was permanently scarred from the bites.

During that same interview, however, Roberts wrestled with his violent response. Asked if he would have done anything differently, he said, “I don’t know at this time. I haven’t had time to resolve this within myself.”

Now, a jury will be asked to do it for him. Outside the courtroom Tuesday (opening statements are scheduled for this morning), Roberts displayed large photos showing his son’s bloodied face. Attorneys not involved in the case walked by, and one was overheard to say to Roberts, “Whatever happens, you did the right thing.”

Meanwhile, Roberts’ attorney, Timothy J. Ryan, clearly will ask the jurors to put themselves in Roberts’ shoes. “A big part of the defense is going to be diminished capacity,” Ryan said. “If you see pictures of what Alan experienced . . . you can appreciate how someone might not be in their right mind.”

If the civil suit goes to trial, Ryan will butt heads with Michael Rotsten of Encino, representing dog owner Wyld. I asked Rotsten Tuesday what he thinks of the criminal case filed against Roberts. “The one disappointing thing to me was that it was such a blatant act of savagery that they should have busted him for a felony, and he’s getting off too easy, in my mind. There isn’t much more that someone could have done to an animal to justify prosecution for a felony, so I’m not sure why the prosecution has gone halfway in terms of what it could have done about the situation.”

Rotsten practices what he calls “animal law.” Asked how common such a practice is, he replied, “There are three attorneys in the United States practicing animal law. I’m it for California.”

Rotsten said he could understand Roberts’ action if he were defending his child at the moment of the attack. “But the moment it became revenge, I have no room in my personality for tolerance for what he did. The act of revenge on an animal is only a symptom. It’s something that cannot be allowed, because if we say it’s OK to hurt animals, then where do we draw the line?”

Meanwhile, Roberts was telling reporters in the courthouse Tuesday that his son, now 21 months old, still wakes up occasionally, screaming, “Dog! Dog! Dog!”

And we wonder why people try to get out of jury duty.

*

Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by writing to him at The Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or calling (714) 966-7821.