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A “trial de novo,” or completely new hearing, was held on Feb. 18 and 19 in the case of “Bubba” and “Stewie,” two dogs that were ordered euthanized by the Hollister Police Department after the killing of two cats in October.
The dogs, a five-year-old Terrier mix and a one-year-old German Shorthaired Pointer, are owned by Timothy and Yuko Pierson. Timothy requested the hearing, which was held before Judge Page B. Galloway at the San Benito County Superior Court.
In a trial de novo, Galloway said, the court hears the case “from the beginning,” as if there had been no previous decision. The hearing allows new testimony and evidence and a re-evaluation of the case.
The object of the hearing, Galloway said, was to determine whether euthanasia is too severe a penalty for the dogs or if some other restrictive measure might be taken, such as the confinement they are currently under.
The hearing began with the testimony of Juan Ramirez, who said he had spotted the two dogs while driving down Valley View Road on Oct. 29, and initially believed they were playing with a toy. As he slowed while passing over a speed bump, he noticed that they were attacking a cat, later identified as “Luna,” owned by Ricardo Ibarra and Maria Elena Jeronimo.
(Ramirez’s testimony came first in the hearing because he was on vacation and attending by Zoom. He was describing the second of the two attacks.)
Ramirez said he got out of the car, then kicked and punched the dogs until they released Luna, who ran to hide under a car. He said he noticed the two dogs chasing another cat while he stayed with Luna, which he described as having “chunks of meat missing.”
Later in the hearing, Ibarra and Jeronimo also testified as to Luna’s injuries and death as well as their relationship with her. Though he did not witness the incident, Ibarra was present immediately afterward, retrieved Luna from under the car, and took her to a vet.
After Luna arrived at the vet, Jeronimo said she was “bleeding, in pain and scared.” After the initial vet visit, the couple brought Luna home for care involving hand-feeding with a syringe and a course of antibiotics.
Ibarra said that 10 days after the incident, the cat was euthanized after sepsis set in, the result of “necrosis at the bite marks.”
Animal Control Officer Samantha Una’Dia testified as to the Hollister Police Department’s involvement. She said she had been called to the scene of the attack on a second cat, Finn, owned by Lupe and Sean Miller, which happened near the home of Denise Souza, who reported the incident.
According to Una’Dia, Souza, who did not testify, told her she had been present at the incident and had sprayed water on the dogs to disperse them. Some of this activity was captured by Souza’s Ring camera. When the video was played in court, Una’Dia identified the two dogs as Bubba and Stewie.
During cross-examination by the Piersons’ attorney, Greg LaForge, Una’Dia confirmed that there was no record of prior issues with the two dogs.
Sean Miller testified that he had found Finn in his garage two years earlier, discovered that the cat had a serious abscess, and brought him to a vet, where he paid for the medical treatment. He said he initially thought the cat was feral, but the vet told him it had already been spayed.
Following the attack, Sean and Lupe Miller were told that Finn would most likely not survive. Lupe Miller described the cat as having “too many wounds to count,” with “punctures all down its body.”
The Millers said that Finn died from an infection of its injuries before a euthanasia order could be carried out.
Following the conclusion of the city’s case, LaForge called Darci Coronado, co-owner of Hollister’s Country Groomers, to testify about the dogs’ demeanor while being tended to in her shop since 2021.
She characterized Bubba and Stewie as “friendly, happy, playful dogs,” which had never “been a problem.” Under questioning from Galloway, Coronado said the dogs had either been confined in kennels before grooming or had been tethered throughout the process.
Timothy Pierson’s was the final testimony of the first day. He said the dogs had been “up and down the streets” in his neighborhood without incident, including when cats were present. While he said he had raised and trained Bubba, he said Stewie, who he described as a “love sponge,” was a foster who had been vetted by his previous owner.
He continued his testimony the following day, with a brief description of scratches inflicted on Bubba during the incident.
During his cross-examination, Quentin Cedar, who was representing Hollister, brought up what he characterized as inconsistencies in Pierson’s statements, including his claims the day before that the dogs had not escaped before and had not been noticed to respond aggressively to the sight of cats.
After a break in the proceedings to allow LaForge to view a video of previous statement, the court reconvened to play it, and Pierson was heard to say, when asked about the dogs forcing open the gate, “It’s not like it hasn’t happened before.”
In response, Pierson said he was referring to the dogs frequently throwing themselves against the gate, not to them having opened it.
Pierson’s daughter, 15-year-old Paige Peirson, was the last to testify, saying she had never seen the dogs react aggressively towards cats when she walked with them. It was ascertained that she always had them leashed while taking them out, never allowing them to run freely.
In the final arguments, Cedar reiterated the relevant criteria in the Food and Agriculture Code which defines an animal as dangerous, particularly if it attacks two or more domestic animals on two occasions and that the attacks are unprovoked.
Cedar also said that while there might be some consideration for rehabilitation rather than euthanasia—noting a previous episode where the Piersons defied the court’s order to keep the dogs confined to the back yard and allowed them into the house—it cannot be demonstrated that any other instruction from the court would be obeyed.
LaForge argued that there was no evidence that the attacks on the cats were unprovoked and that there had been no other recorded instances of aggression by the dogs. He referenced the video played the day before, in which Souza scattered the dogs from her yard, pointing out they had not reacted aggressively towards her.
He also mentioned that a professional dog trainer had observed the dogs for 90 minutes following the incident and had reported no signs of aggression.
At the conclusion of the final arguments, Galloway said she would not rule immediately and instead wanted time to review all the testimony and evidence. She said she would issue a written decision in approximately two weeks.
After the hearing, Pierson made the following statement to BenitoLink: “We hope the decision will reflect the factual evidence showing our dogs aren’t a threat. We’re looking for a fair outcome that keeps the community safe while allowing our pets to stay alive.”
In an interview with BenitoLink at the courthouse, Sean Miller, co-owner of Finn, said:
“My wife and I are both animal lovers, and we take no comfort in the idea that these dogs would be put down. But we feel it’s very important that no other family goes through what we’re going through right now. I’m hoping that the dogs will be put down, and I don’t feel good about that. Nothing is going to bring our cat back, but we feel strongly that nobody should ever have to go through what we are right now because of these dogs.”
BenitoLink filed a request to record and photograph the hearing, but the court denied it.
Note: this article has been edited to clarify the placement of Ramirez’s testimony at the hearing and the order of the attacks on the dogs.
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