Huckleberries Online

Death Row Dog Faces Supreme Court

Posted by DFO

Feb. 13, 2010 6:28 a.m. • 3 comments

Butch, the American Staffordshire terrier who has been on doggie death row in Craigmont since September, is appealing for his life to the Idaho Supreme Court. Butch’s owner, Pamela Thompson of Craigmont, filed an appeal Wednesday asking the high court to review actions by 2nd District Judge John H. Bradbury, remanding the case back to the Craigmont City Council. Butch has been in custody since allegations were made in August that he got out of Thompson’s trailer house while she was not at home and harassed the 3-year-old son of Craigmont’s dog catcher, Jeremiah Wynott. American Staffordshire terriers are sometimes known as pit bulls. Thompson said she checked with the child’s mother that day and was told Butch had not bitten her child. Later, however, allegations of biting and other harassment were made. Butch is accused of bad acts while he lived in Elk City with Thompson’s son, Tim/Kathy Hedberg, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Should the Idaho Supreme Court be spending its time deciding whether a central Idaho dog should live or die?

Three comments on this post so far. Add yours!

Ol_Blue on February 13 at 8:56 a.m.
I don’t get it. Not that I’m a fan of Pit Bulls, but they’re killing the dogs over ‘allegations’ of bad behavior? We had a guy in Boundary county wipe out a family of 3 while driving drunk, he got 18 months…another guy up there shot and killed his neighbor over a fence…he never did time. These aren’t allegations…these are facts that were reported in this paper. I don’t get it.
HonestGeorge on February 13 at 11:05 a.m.
Yes. It was the law that placed the dog (and owner) into this position and if the law is vague or improperly written it should be the court that straightens it out.
CDA_Mom on February 13 at 11:16 p.m.
You know, if the Idaho Supreme Court can hear Spencer’s nonsense, I certainly do not know why it can’t hear this litigation. Idaho differs from other state appellate courts as there is no mandatory court of appeals process that weeds out the chaft (assuming this case has no merit). You should read some of the opinions that the Supreme court and court of appeals has to deal with. There are more obsurd cases — see
http://www.isc.idaho.gov/opinions/Gibson-opn.pdf

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.