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The legal battle to spare two dogs, “Bubba” and “Stewie,” from euthanasia ended on Aug. 26, when San Benito County Superior Court Judge E. Omar Rodriguez struck down a second appeal of the sentence.
Responding to a motion filed by the city of Hollister, Rodriguez wrote that the dogs’ owner, Timothy Pierson, had “no legal authority” to appeal Judge Page B. Galloway’s March 9 decision, which upheld the Hollister Police Department’s original November 2025 finding that the dogs were “dangerous.”
In her March ruling, Galloway wrote, “It is with a heavy heart that the court orders that Bubba and Stewie will be humanely euthanized no later than 30 days from the service of this order.”
The legal battle began on Oct. 29, 2025, when, in two separate incidents, Bubba, a five-year-old terrier mix, and Stewie, a one-year-old German shorthaired pointer, were observed attacking two cats, neither of which survived.
After the police department’s hearing, the dogs were confined to Pierson’s home and, under an order from Galloway, were to be kept in cages while awaiting the first appeal.
Under Galloway, the case was tried again from the beginning, as if it had not been heard before (a “trial de novo”). In her ruling, she said that she could find no other way than euthanasia to “ensure the health, safety, and welfare of the public.”
Pierson immediately filed an appeal of the decision, followed by a motion on behalf of the city of Hollister to strike it down. At a July 17 hearing, Galloway disqualified herself, saying she could not make a decision on the police’s motion as it involved her own ruling in favor of the city of Hollister.
A hearing was then scheduled for Aug. 27, before Rodriguez. However, his tentative ruling was released electronically the afternoon before, and the hearing was therefore canceled.
In the ruling, Rodriguez offered three legal citations:
- Gale v. Tuolumne Cnty. Water Co. (1914), which held that, “Necessarily a judgment, which by the [California Code of Civil Procedure] is made final and conclusive, is not appealable.”
- The California Food and Agricultural Code (Division 14, Chapter 9, “Potentially Dangerous and Vicious Dogs”), which specifically states in section 31624, “The determination of the court hearing (is) the appeal shall be final and conclusive upon all parties,” referring back to Galloway’s decision.
- California Code of Civil Procedure section 904.2, saying that, by law, the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, cannot hear appeals from limited civil cases.
With that, Rodriguez granted the city of Hollister’s challenge to the appeal, leaving the sentence of “humane” euthanasia intact.
The ruling surprised the Pierson family and their attorney, Gary Thelander. They only learned of it when the court clerk informed them upon their arrival in the courtroom that the scheduled hearing had been canceled.
After reading the decision on the courthouse’s public portal, Pierson and Thelander conferred privately, then returned to the courtroom, hoping to speak to Rodriguez.
Waiting until the pending cases had been heard, and just before the announcement of the 3 p.m. recess, Thelander asked to address the judge. Rodriguez stopped him, saying that any discussion would not be allowed without the city attorney present.
With that, the courtroom was cleared and, for the third time, the decision was left intact.
The family, in obvious distress over the decision, conferred again privately with Thelander. Pierson announced he would go to the animal shelter to bid farewell to the dogs and left.
BenitoLink requested a statement from Pierson after the hearing, but as of publishing time, there has been no response.
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