Posted on 07/14/2011 10:27:11 PM PDT by george76
FRANKFORT, Maine — The mother of a 7-month-old girl mauled to death by the family dog in April was arrested Wednesday night and charged in connection with the death.
Maine State Police Detective Adam Kelley arrested 29-year-old Katrina Mitchell at her home on Town Hill Road and charged her with endangering the welfare of a child. Mitchell was taken to Waldo County Jail and was being held in lieu of $1,060 bail.
The charge was filed after police consulted with the District Attorney’s Office.
Annabelle Mitchell was mauled to death on April 12 in the living room of her house by the family’s Rottweiler, Hannibal, while the mother slept on the couch, according to Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety. Annabelle’s 2½-year-old brother also was in the home at the time.
...
Waldo County District Attorney Geoffrey Rushlau said that endangering a child is defined as a reckless act which violates a duty of care or protection.
“What we’ll have to prove, if this goes to trial, is that her behavior was reckless,” he said. “There’s lots of things parents can do to end up in bad situations without the slightest guilt attached to it. I think that when the evidence comes out, it’ll be clear … that this was criminal conduct.”
Rushlau said he could not answer questions concerning details about the baby’s death until the affidavit becomes available to the public.
(Excerpt) Read more at bangordailynews.com ...
Indeed I hope you have NO ONE in YOUR care.. as you are a complete and total nutcase.
Please show me where I stated that anyone on this thread tried and convicted her.
Thread #9. I’m not looking for a fight as it appears you are unarmed
Why don’t you just give it up? Your Disney-ish anthropomorphic visions in regard to animal behavior are so amateur and not worthy of consideration in this case. Why not wait to see what the state presents? I would love to hear your compelling commentary at that time. Until then you make absolutely no sense and actually border on trollish.
I guess I along with millions of Americans are negligent every single night we go to sleep with Fido in the house... you are such a loon.
Going to sleep with Fido in your house is no problem for anyone but you. Going to sleep with Fido watching your 7 month old and waking up with them dead is negligence.
Wow... compelling .. not.
Prayers for this family.
Indeed I hope you have NO ONE in YOUR care.. as you are a complete and total nutcase.
Oh, because I don’t ascribe human traits of kindness and consciece on a large animal, trust it enough to take a nap with my 7 month old. I’m a nutcase. I might be a nutcase but not on this issue. You on the other hand are a clueless idiot
I just don’t know where to begin with you. Animals...large dogs, are used in memory care all over this country. You take a rare incident and wish to condemn any and all who trust their canine companion. You are the idiot. You need to realize that stuff happens and no one in life is immune to random incidents. Perhaps you should lock yourself in your home, encase yourself in plastic and antibacterial lotion as well! Surely if as a parent you don’t see to that you are neglectful. There is no telling why the pet...that had no prior incidents of aggressive behavior... decided to attack the child. No one.. not you, not that parent or I could know that. And just because one pet out of millions out there who live in homes all over this country, attacked this child.... does not mean that all those millions of wonderful family pets would do the same. Statistics are against you...Pray for this family for their loss and quit trying to find the boogieman.
I have a yorkie of 5 lbs, the cutest love of my life. I would not give him access to an infant and go to sleep. Even tho HE thinks he’s a person, he’s a dog. A dog even who idolizes children.
I certainly think she should not be in custody of a two year old child if she left the child at risk with a rottweiller. She’s going to have to live with this the rest of her life. I see no benefit to jail time and criminal charges, unless they have information regarding habitual ‘deliberate’ abuse or neglect of those children.
I also had a best friend who was my bosses rottweiller that shared my yard. I like to sit a lot on the porch, drinking my coffee and enjoying the garden or reading. She loved to get up in the swing with me and put her head in my lap. A couple of times during periods of sadness or distress she would put her head in my lap and cry with me. Pitiful little whines. And she would put herself in my lap and try to hug me around the waist. I also watched (out the window) her pounce on a coyote that decided to get in the yard and get our cotton-tail bunnies. It died within seconds. When I would watch the little cotton-tails, she would watch too and look at me almost smiling. She never touched my bunnies. Did I ever leave her alone with my yorkie? No.
As far as being unarmed, you couldn't even deliver a proper bi*tch slap.
Yes because death by dog would certainly prove intent (a requirement for a murder charge). LOL
A better question is Why would she own a rotweiler?
I had no trouble leaving my black and tan coonhound alone with my kids, as a matter of fact if they are outside on the acreage, he would guard them closely, the lab would just play and not care, but that hound kept the animals and everything away, most loving dog ever.
I think it varies a bit breed to breed, but there’s an old saying... once you go hound, you don’t go back. There’s a reason they called coonhounds “settlers dogs” back in the day (mid to late 1700s), because everyone had one and they did it all.
that is a blanket assumption...I'd like a bit more information
I would wager that millions of Americans sleep with a large dog and kids in their house every night and this happens for whatever reason extremely rarely. The child is exponentially more likely to die in the bathtub at toddler age or SIDS now rather than what happened.
Just knowing what the article says does not rise to gross negligence...maybe not even negligence unless other factors come to light...proven history of bad dog, alcohol or drug addiction for mom, other child abuse charges etc
Sometime accidents...however horrible happen and you can't always file charges and yes even decent dogs snap and freak out but if she had no warning of that then it does not rise to criminal neglect...imprudent perhaps but imprudent as in the fact that many people have large dogs in the home as protectors while family sleeps...however horrible the accident unless there is more than that then I'm with the mom...horrible for her and her baby.
There will never be a child killed in my home or on my property by an animal that was trusted while I was asleep . I hope there won’t be on yours either. In my case it won’t be because of negligence
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