Owner won't let dogs be put down
The local prosecutor wants to euthanize two dogs implicated in the mauling death of a Franklin County woman, but their owner has declined his request.
"We're going to refuse at this time,' said attorney Bobby Carter, of Tullahoma, Tenn., who is representing Dr. Ephraim Gammada of Knights Church Road in rural Franklin County.
The Gammada family lives a short drive from the home of Dianna Acklen, 60, who died May 6 after being bitten repeatedly while walking down the county road.
Carter said he responded to District Attorney General Mike Taylor's request by letter this week. The attorney said Gammada would not surrender the dogs, a pair of mixed Great Pyrenees, until he has had a chance to analyze the scientific evidence, including DNA, that has been collected in the case.
"We have not seen the raw data on that, and at this point are suspicious of the raw data,' Carter said in a telephone interview Friday afternoon.
"We're holding off for more information. If it turns out, if we're convinced, through DNA evidence or otherwise, that the dogs were responsible for Mrs. Acklen's death, then they're going to be euthanized,' Carter said.
On June 1, forensic dentist Mike Tabor concluded that one of Gammada's dogs participated in the attack on the woman, who suffered 200 to 300 dog bites on her arms, legs and torso. Two other dogs, the second mixed Pyrenees and a mixed breed owned by Ronnie Swann, also of Knight Church Road, were probably participants in the mauling, according to Tabor.
Acklen was found lying in the Swanns' driveway by passers-by, who rendered first aid. Immediately, the Swanns' mixed breed and their chocolate Labrador retriever were taken to the dog pound.
After the release of Tabor's report, the white-and-brown mixed breed was put to sleep. The chocolate Lab, which was cleared by the dentist's examination, was put up for adoption after the Swanns gave up ownership.
Gammada's dogs are named Cuddle and Yorkie. Authorities have not said which one was implicated in Tabor's report as the primary attacker in Acklen's death.
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation said Friday that some of the DNA samples taken from Gammada's dogs have been returned from the laboratory, "but there are some items that weren't tested that may now be as a result of this," bureau spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson said in an e-mail yesterday. She was referring to Gammada's decision to contest the district attorney's request.
No one answered the phone at the Swanns' residence Friday afternoon.
Dennis Acklen, whose wife was the victim in this case, said he was unaware of Gammada's response to the district attorney's request. He offered no comment Friday on the new development.
In a previous statement, Acklen and his two grown children announced that they agreed with the district attorney's decision not to file criminal charges against the dog owners, but the family said they wanted the animals involved to be put down.
According to Nashville-based defense attorney David Raybin, implication alone would not give local law enforcement the right to enter private property and take the mixed Great Pyrenees.
"People may feel because the dogs have been accused of killing someone, they could do that. You cannot just go on private property and take animals. It would be a violation of the Fourth Amendment.
"Because the dogs are personal property, then a search warrant is required. A separate proceeding would have to be held for them to actually put the dogs down. That would require an adversarial hearing," noted Raybin.
Prosecutor Taylor was out of town attending a conference Friday and could not be reached for comment on how the case might play out.
Gammada's attorney, Carter, said the dogs in question do not have a history of biting and "have never posed a threat before." Carter said his client maintains that his dogs were in the Gammadas' fenced yard when the family left their home on the afternoon of the attack and were in the yard when the family returned that evening.
"You can't reconcile that with what the state alleges,' Carter said.
"For that reason, and until we see further scientific evidence, we're going to decline to have the dogs euthanized at this time." ?
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