Recently, in a California case, the defendant’s dog bit the victim’s leg. The jury convicted the defendant of assault by means of force likely to cause great bodily injury and the personal infliction of great bodily injury.
The California court held that the evidence supported the finding that the evidence supported the finding that one of the dogs obeyed the defendant’s command to attack and maul the victim. The defendant knew that the dogs would attack on command, having been present during an earlier incident when the dog’s owner had instructed the dogs to attack a man. The dog’s also obeyed the defendant who cared for them.
When a neighbor told the defendant to stop the attack, the defendant refused to call off the dogs. The California court held that the defendant directed the attacked and hindered its ending so that the defendant, not the dog, should and could be held responsible for personally inflicting great bodily injury. People v. Frazier (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 613.