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Sentencing / Post-Conviction

Man whose dogs killed woman gets sentence of 15 years to life

A California man convicted of second-degree murder after his pit bulls attacked and killed a 63-year-old woman received a sentence of 15 years-to-life.

Prosecutors argued that Alex Donald Jackson, who lives in Littlerock, California, did nothing to stop the attack, and noted that his pets were involved in at least seven other altercations prior to Pamela Devitt’s death, the Los Angeles Times reports.

Besides the second-degree murder charge, a Los Angeles County jury in August found Jackson guilty of cultivating and possession of marijuana for sale, and possession of psilocybin, which are more commonly known as psychedelic mushrooms, the Antelope Valley Press reported.

Devitt was out for a walk when she was attacked in 2013. She died of a heart attack in an ambulance, en route to the hospital, according to the Los Angeles Times. Authorities removed eight dogs from Jackson’s home.

The government presented trial testimony from two people who previously were attacked by Jackson’s dogs, an earlier Los Angeles Times article states. The witnesses were both horseback riding when the incident occurred, and one witness stated that at least three of Jackson’s dogs trailed him for 3 miles.

The other witness testified that Jackson, 31, threw rocks at him and shouted: “Get out of here. You guys don’t live here.”

According to the National Canine Research Council, approximately 30 people a year are killed by dogs. To prove murder, the Los Angeles Times reported, prosecutors must show that the defendant knew his or her dogs were dangerous before the killing.

Jackson, who lived with his mother and his eight dogs when the fatal attack occurred, testified that many dogs are abandoned near his home, and he wanted to help them.

“I just wanted to give them a hand to where they didn’t have to be out there on their own,” he stated, according to the article. “It would prevent them from having to feel as if they have to fend for themselves.”