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A Jan. 7 San Benito County Superior Court hearing to decide the fates of two dogs, “Bubba” and “Stewie,” which were ordered by the Hollister Police Department to be euthanized after the killing of two cats in October, resulted in a postponement until Jan. 21.
The dogs, a five-year-old Terrier mix and a one-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer, are owned by Timothy and Yuko Pierson. The Piersons’ attorney, Greg LaForge, requested time to review what he characterized as a last-minute, 90-plus page filing by the Hollister Police Department.
LaForge said he had just received the brief late Friday evening and had not had a chance to thoroughly review it.
Judge Page B. Galloway seemed unsympathetic, saying she had been able to read it in advance of the hearing. However, she agreed to the postponement.
The only witness called at the hearing was Animal Control Officer Samantha Una’Dia, who testified that she had made a visit to the Piersons’ home on Dec. 26 for a kennel inspection. On hearing the dogs bark from inside the house, she discovered that they had been let inside.
LaForge told the court that the Piersons said that the dogs had been let back inside because of the recent intense rainstorms, which had scattered debris throughout the yard.
Saying, “the court has made a very clear order,” Galloway emphasized that the dogs were to remain confined in their cage in the backyard at all times, regardless of weather conditions.
Following the postponement, the Piersons were served papers as they left the courthouse by the presumed owners of the two cats killed by the dogs.
BenitoLink filed for permission to record and photograph the hearing, but was denied by the Hollister Police Department through an appeal. The court gave the “sensitivity” of the proceedings as a reason.
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