My critics seem to think I’ve only ever worked on two cases — one involving a Bachelor and one involving a cheerleader.
In reality, I have done so many interesting things over the last 20+ years, I’ve forgotten more fascinating stories than you can imagine. TWO such stories came to mind this morning, so I’m going to write about those (in separate posts)….just because I think it’s helpful to document these things.
This story involves something we called “The Dog Killer Case”. The case was extremely interesting (and upsetting) on its own, but the reason I think it’s worth mentioning is because of something a pro-JFC friend told me recently.
That friend suggested JFC is “very emotional” and feels I have been “unfair” towards Judge Mata. I responded and explained I disagreed with the unfairness part, but everyone is entitled to their opinion.
What does that have to do with the Dog Killer Case? Simple — over my many years of experience, I have seen things you haven’t seen. I have seen people lie (frequently). I have seen lawyers suborn perjury. I have seen judges make false statements. Those experiences have given me a perspective most people don’t have. It affects how I see the world, and how I respond to things. So in my mind, looking through the lens of MY experiences, what seems fair to me may not seem fair to you.
Listen to this insane story and MAYBE you’ll start to understand why….
The Dog Killer Case – Background
The Dog Killer Case happened in 2006. My client was an incredibly nice lady named Sally. One day, Sally and her husband came home from eating dinner out with their kids. As the family walked in the front door, one of their dogs came running up to them. Suddenly, the dog keeled over and began convulsing and vomiting blood. This happened in front of Sally’s two young children (I think they were around 5-7 years old).
As you can imagine, this was extremely traumatic for the family. We’re talking little kids screaming and crying hysterically.
The dog died, and the family was devasted. The dog wasn’t old and hadn’t been sick before, so the death was a mystery. But dogs sometimes die, and the family decided to move on….
Until it happened again, just a few weeks later.
The exact same thing happened with the family’s second dog. That couldn’t have been a coincidence. So the family asked their vet for an autopsy (I think it was called a “necropsy”). The results: the dog was poisoned with arsenic (rat poison).
This shocked the family. They didn’t keep or use any rat poison, so how did that get into the dog? They had no clue.
But they had a plan — Sally purchased a motion detector in the shape of an owl. She put the owl on her back wall. If the owl detected motion, an alarm would sound inside the house.
A short time later, Sally got a new dog (they had at least one other remaining pup also). Every night, Sally would check the yard for anything suspicious, and if the coast was clear, she would let the dogs out to do their business before bed.
One night, Sally did this routine. Checked the yard, found nothing, let the dogs poop, everyone went to bed.
10 minutes later, the owl sounded an alarm.
Sally’s husband jumped up with a flashlight and checked the yard. You will NOT believe what he saw — at the bottom of the pool were MEATBALLS. And they weren’t there 10 minutes earlier.
Sally called 9-1-1. Directly behind her house was an empty lot under construction with a new build home. The job site was surrounded by a chain link fence. It was easy to sneak in, but once inside, there were not a lot of options for a quick getaway.
Scottsdale police arrived in minutes, and Sally asked them to check the construction site. It was dark, and the cops went in with flashlights and guns.
What did they find? A woman named Marlene Richardson.
Marlene was Sally’s neighbor. And guess what? Marlene was unemployed. I think she may have inherited some money and didn’t need to work…or maybe she was on disability…I can’t remember.
Because she didn’t work, Marlene was home all day. Sally and her husband both worked, which meant their house was empty all day….except for the dogs.
And the dogs barked. A lot.
Months earlier, Marlene complained to Sally about the barking. Sally (who was the nicest person you could ever meet) tried to take steps to solve the problem. I think she used bark collars, but whatever – the dogs still barked a fair amount.
So, the theory goes — Marlene got tired of the barking, so she took matters into her own hands….by purchasing rat poison, putting it into meatballs, and throwing them into Sally’s back yard.
How do I know this? Because — when the cops found Marlene in the construction site, they search the area and found — you guessed it — a baggie with meatballs…which were laced with rat poison.
Marlene was arrested and charged with multiple counts of felony animal cruelty. But she also inflicted MASSIVE trauma on Sally and her family. Plus, Sally had spent thousands on vet bills.
Sally came to my office and asked if I could help. My response: absolutely.
We sued Marlene for intentional infliction of emotional distress and trespassing (throwing anything onto someone else’s land is a trespass).
What was Marlene’s defense? She claimed she didn’t do it.
She testified under oath she did nothing to hurt the dogs.
OK, but why was she inside a fenced/locked construction site, in the dark, with no flashlight? Simple – she was just curious and wanted to look at the house being built.
What about the bag of meatballs? FRESH MEATBALLS. Found by police just feet away from where she was arrested? No clue. Not hers. No idea how they got there. Maybe a construction worker left them (yes, the meatballs were tested and yes they contained rat poison, so if that was a construction worker’s lunch…..)
Keep in mind — that is the story Marlene told under oath. She said this when I took her deposition. Her lawyer (who is now deceased) allowed her to present that story to a jury (twice – because the first jury hung, so we had to try the case twice).
And guess what? Marlene later took a plea deal where she admitted to killing the dogs. I think she got probation.
So her lawyer allowed her to lie to the court. Multiple times. Was a notice of candor ever filed? Of course not.
And guess what the State Bar of Arizona did to that guy?
Absolutely nothing.
So yeah, call me all the names you want. Call me a liar. Call me unethical. But don’t tell me the State Bar of Arizona cares about protecting the public. It does not. It never has. At least that’s my experience, and it’s part of why I’m very happy to leave this state. The people in charge of enforcing ethics are some of the least ethical people I’ve ever seen. That is an unworkable situation for a person like me.
P.S. The Dog Killer Case made local headlines at the time. Sadly, this was B.Y. (before YouTube), so I only have this old news clip, and somehow the audio didn’t record properly (this DOES have sound…it’s just really low).
