Two dogfighters unlikely to go to jail

Two Spokane men found guilty last month on felony dogfighting charges were handed eight-month sentences Thursday – plus two years of supervision that forbids them from owning pets and allows unannounced home inspections.

But it’s unlikely that Peter Nelson, 25, and Alfredo Renteria, 26, will spend time behind bars. Spokane County Superior Court Judge Tari S. Eitzen recommended work release and home monitoring for their eight-month sentences because neither man had a prior felony conviction and both are employed.

A Spokane County jury convicted Nelson and Renteria on Feb. 22 of animal fighting and keeping an illegal kennel. Spokane County prosecutors recommended the eight-month sentences. Animal fighting is a Class C felony that calls for up to a year in jail.

Several animal welfare groups and members of the public sent letters to Eitzen demanding the maximum sentence for the two men.

“Please send a message to these men and those of like minds, that dog fighting is unacceptable and has no place in Spokane,” Gail Mackie, executive director of SpokAnimal C.A.R.E., said in her March 18 letter.

The public defender’s office, representing Nelson, objected to letters from individuals with no connection to the case, calling them “improper and inflammatory” and calculated to “sway this court at sentencing.”

The Spokane County Regional Animal Protection Service, or SCRAPS, is seeking $19,048 in restitution from Nelson and Renteria for the costs of boarding and feeding the eight pit bulls seized last April 24 from Renteria’s house, 8006 E. Utah in Spokane Valley.

After Thursday’s hearing, both men said they will appeal.

“I have to,” said Renteria, who was renting his Spokane Valley home to Nelson when the dogs were seized. “None of the dogs were mine. Any landlord who rents out a place could be affected as I was.”

He added that he believes juror bias triggered by national publicity surrounding the Michael Vick case meant “we were considered guilty before we walked in the courthouse door.” Renteria’s mother, Cindy Tarter, agreed, telling Eitzen her son is a “dog lover.”

Vick is the former Atlanta Falcons football star sentenced in December to 23 months in a federal prison for running a dogfighting operation. His case focused national attention on dogfighting and complicated jury selection for the Nelson-Renteria case.

The jury found Renteria not guilty of animal cruelty after a neighbor testified that a short and hairy man had beaten a pit bull in the yard where the dogs were seized. Renteria is tall, and his lawyer asked him to remove his shirt to display his minimal body hair.

Nelson was not charged with animal cruelty.

Still unresolved: the fate of the dogs that SCRAPS has been caring for under court order in the county’s first dogfighting prosecution.

SCRAPS has asked the court for an order requiring Nelson and Renteria to reimburse the agency for boarding and feeding the dogs. Eitzen said she’ll ask for more legal briefs before she decides whether to order restitution and transfer ownership of the dogs to SCRAPS.

In a sentencing brief, the Spokane County public defender’s office that represented Nelson objected to the $19,048 restitution demand, saying evidence presented at trial showed that Nelson didn’t own all the dogs.

Also, a brief from the public defender says the court should impose no boarding fees after July 12, 2007, because the prosecutor’s office rejected a plea offer from Nelson on that date.

The six adult pit bulls, which showed scarring and other evidence of dogfighting, and two young dogs that were puppies when they were seized will be evaluated to determine whether they can be adopted.

“It’s been a learning experience,” said Nancy Hill, SCRAPS director.

When the dogs were seized, animal control officials in Spokane had had no experience with fighting dogs, Hill said.

The Humane Society of the United States usually advises that pit bulls trained to fight be euthanized, Hill said. But the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals disagreed, arguing that some less-aggressive dogs can be spared, she said.

“The animals are victims, and you hate to sentence victims to death. The Vick case changed our minds,” Hill said.

SCRAPS had the eight pit bulls temper-tested and made a short video documenting their behavior. Some have shown aggression toward other animals, but not toward people. Chewie, the only male SCRAPS seized, displays “fear aggression” to the kennel staff and was not evaluated because of his temperament, the SCRAPS report says.

Hill also consulted Best Friends Animal Sanctuary in Utah and sent two of her employees to observe pit bulls at Bad Rap, a San Francisco pit bull advocacy group. Both organizations are caring for some of Vick’s former pit bulls.

“Our goal is to place as many as we can safely,” Hill said, noting that the dogs seized in Spokane will have to go to a sanctuary first to be rehabilitated.

If no suitable rescue group can be found, “then some or all of the animals may be euthanized,” Hill said in a letter presented to Eitzen.

“We respectfully ask the court to release the dogs to SCRAPS. SCRAPS will make every effort to save the lives of these animals while protecting public safety and animal welfare,” Hill’s letter says.