DOG OWNERS CHARGED WITH SECOND-DEGREE MURDER IN MAULING OF LIVONIA MAN

Original Story:  Freep.com


The owners of two dogs that mauled to death a jogger in rural Metamora Township are being charged with second-degree murder, the Lapeer Prosecutor’s Office announced tonight.

Sebastiano Quagliata, 45, was already in custody Thursday night and his wife, Valbona Lucaj, 44, was expected to turn herself in shortly, Prosecutor Tim Turkelson told the Free Press.

The pair will be arraigned in Lapeer District court at 9 a.m. Friday. They face up to life in prison if convicted of second-degree murder. Prosecutors also charged the couple with possessing an animal causing death.

Two Cane Corso dogs owned by the couple are blamed for attacking and killing Craig Sytsma, 46, of Livonia on July 23 as he jogged past their home on a rural Metamora Township road. Dogs owned by the couple had been involved in at least two previous, non-fatal attacks.

It’s unusual, but not unprecedented for a dog owner to be charged with murder in a fatal attack. When two large Perro de Presa Canario dogs attacked and killed lacrosse player and coach Diane Whipple in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building in 2001, one of the dogs’ owners was convicted of second-degree murder and the other was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

In 2008, a Livingston County woman was convicted on two 15-year felony counts of keeping dangerous animals causing death and sentenced to 3½ years in prison after her American bulldogs mauled to death a neighbor man and a woman who was jogging along the road in rural Iosco Township.

Sytsma, a father of three, had gotten off work in nearby Oxford, in northern Oakland County, and gone for an early evening jog when he was attacked. He died of his injuries at a nearby hospital.

Police and court records show that in the the past two years the couple’s dogs have attacked and bit walkers and terrorized the neighborhood.

The couple never showed up for a court hearing last year after the wife was issued two civil infraction tickets when their dogs charged an older man and bit him in the leg. Ultimately, they paid $280 in fines, and the case was closed.

In May 2012, one of Lucaj’s dogs charged April Smith, 25, tearing open her leg in three spots, as she walked down the road. In that case, animal control officials did not issue tickets, nor were the owners fined. Instead, they were ordered to keep the dog quarantined for 10 days. Smith filed a lawsuit against the dog owners and was awarded a $20,000 judgment.

Neighbors told the Free Press that the dogs roamed the neighborhood, growled at people in their own yards, and sometimes went into garages. Complaints to animal control officials went unanswered.

Meanwhile, federal officials say Lucaj, of Albania, and Quagliata, from Italy, are in the U.S. illegally. The couple has been fighting deportation for years.

ATTORNEY ASKING FOR SECOND FORENSIC EXPERT IN NEWBORN BABY DEATH

Story first appeared on UpNorthLive.com.


BENZIE COUNTY -- The woman accused of killing her newborn baby in Benzie County was back in court Tuesday, and her court appointed attorney is asking for more money for the defense.  If you have been wrongly accused, contact a Flint Child Abuse Lawyer today.

Alyce Morales' defense attorney said he needs the money to pay for another forensic expert to look at the evidence in the case.

Morales is being charged with one count of open murder and one count of manslaughter in the death of her newborn baby at the Platte River Campground. She was arrested after giving birth at the campground in July.

Investigators said Morales had been hiding her pregnancy from her parents and gave birth alone in a tent while vacationing with relatives.

Defense attorney Jesse Williams claims Morales' mother knew she was pregnant. 

The medical examiner and the doctor who performed the autopsy testified the child died from blunt force trauma to the head and the abdomen.  Contact a Muskegon Child Abuse Lawyer for more information on Michigan abuse laws.

Williams is hoping to find another expert to shed more light on exactly what happened to the baby.

“We need to locate a person qualified to do that, and that's what I asked the court for permission to do, or at least some time to do to file a motion,” said Williams.

Williams says there is no clear timeline for the case as the defense waits to get approval from the court to bring in another forensic expert.

Morales' trial was set to start Wednesday, but was delayed.