:BLEEP: :MAD |oo By KRISTEN GELINEAU, Associated Press Writer
SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. - A woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the death of an 82-year-old woman attacked by a pack of roaming pit bulls.
Deanna Large faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and three misdemeanor counts of allowing a dangerous dog to run loose. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to 13 years in prison.
Large, 36, was free on $10,000 bond. She refused to comment after her arraignment in Circuit Court. Relatives of the victim, Dorothy Sullivan, wept and embraced outside the courthouse.
Judge William Ledbetter Jr. appointed attorney Eugene Frost to represent Large and set an Aug. 16 trial date.
Sullivan was out for a walk in her front yard with her little dog Buttons, a Shih Tzu, when they were attacked by three unleashed pit bulls. Buttons was also killed. Sullivan's daughter found her mother's body when she stopped by for a visit soon after the March 8 attack.
"This was a tragic, horrible death," Sullivan family attorney Ed McNelis said Wednesday. "The family just hopes that justice is done."
Family members were too upset to talk to reporters, McNelis said.
Residents of this rural, woodsy community between Washington and Richmond told The Associated Press that roaming pit bulls have terrorized the neighborhood for years. McNelis said Sullivan had called authorities before to complain that dogs had chased her into her house.
While Large admitted owning one of the dogs, Commonwealth's Attorney William Neely has said an investigation revealed she owned all three and had been warned to keep them under better control. Authorities shot and killed two of the pit bulls, and a third was captured and euthanized.
This is just the second time prosecutors in Virginia have sought involuntary manslaughter charges in a fatal dog mauling. Neely on Wednesday called the Large case "uncharted territory."
:BLEEP: |oo :MAD
SPOTSYLVANIA, Va. - A woman pleaded not guilty Wednesday in the death of an 82-year-old woman attacked by a pack of roaming pit bulls.
Deanna Large faces charges of involuntary manslaughter and three misdemeanor counts of allowing a dangerous dog to run loose. If convicted of all charges, she faces up to 13 years in prison.
Large, 36, was free on $10,000 bond. She refused to comment after her arraignment in Circuit Court. Relatives of the victim, Dorothy Sullivan, wept and embraced outside the courthouse.
Judge William Ledbetter Jr. appointed attorney Eugene Frost to represent Large and set an Aug. 16 trial date.
Sullivan was out for a walk in her front yard with her little dog Buttons, a Shih Tzu, when they were attacked by three unleashed pit bulls. Buttons was also killed. Sullivan's daughter found her mother's body when she stopped by for a visit soon after the March 8 attack.
"This was a tragic, horrible death," Sullivan family attorney Ed McNelis said Wednesday. "The family just hopes that justice is done."
Family members were too upset to talk to reporters, McNelis said.
Residents of this rural, woodsy community between Washington and Richmond told The Associated Press that roaming pit bulls have terrorized the neighborhood for years. McNelis said Sullivan had called authorities before to complain that dogs had chased her into her house.
While Large admitted owning one of the dogs, Commonwealth's Attorney William Neely has said an investigation revealed she owned all three and had been warned to keep them under better control. Authorities shot and killed two of the pit bulls, and a third was captured and euthanized.
This is just the second time prosecutors in Virginia have sought involuntary manslaughter charges in a fatal dog mauling. Neely on Wednesday called the Large case "uncharted territory."
:BLEEP: |oo :MAD
