A Minersville woman must pay nearly $1,600 plus another $600 in fines and court costs after a judge in Schuylkill County District Court ruled last week she was responsible for her lab-pitbull mix killing a neighbor’s dog and severely injuring another.
Senior Magisterial District Judge Edward Lewis found Katherine Morrow guilty of failing to confine her dog, Zeus, and that he was a dangerous dog. He also ordered her to pay the owner of the attacked dogs $1,586 in civil penalties after a summary/civil trial at his courtroom in Port Carbon on Tuesday.
Kurt Mika testified during the trial that he was walking his Yorkie mixes, Toby and Otis, on Oct. 16 near Baker and Third streets in Minersville when Zeus got loose and attacked his dogs. Toby, he said, was eventually euthanized after suffering five broken ribs and a broken jaw in the attack. Otis sustained serious puncture wounds.
Mika said that Zeus first attacked Toby, biting him by the stomach. He said that Zeus is typically confined to an upstairs balcony. However, a neighbor with video surveillance footage that was presented during the trial along with Minersville Officer Joe Kavanaugh each testified that this was not the first time Morrow had failed to keep Zeus contained to her property.
“I did everything I could to get the dog to release,” Mika testified, saying he attempted to wrestle Zeus off Toby. “The only reason he did was to go after my other dog.”
When he could finally get his dogs away from Zeus, Mika said he ran with them in his arms and then rushed them to a local veterinarian for emergency care.
Videos shown during the trial came from a witness, Robert Cook Jr., of Pottsville, who said he’s often in the neighborhood due to his girlfriend living there. The video showed Zeus coming from the area of Morrow’s yard.
And although Cook testified that he couldn’t be sure of when the videos shown in court were recorded, Kavanaugh later said he’s been to Morrow’s home several times in the past for similar situations.
Morrow’s attorney, John Urbanski, attempted several times to have evidence stricken from the record but only twice was he successful. Pennsylvania Dog Warden Richard Hine could only produce a license showing Morrow owned Zeus this year but Lewis felt that didn’t impact his ruling because of Kavanaugh’s testimony that he’d been to that residence several times in the past.
Lewis did grant a motion to have Mika’s claim for lost wages removed from the record.
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