Suki
09-13-2006, 08:48 PM
Remember this case
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL)
SAN FRANCISCO
Mother won't face retrial in her son's dog-mauling death
Prosecutors believe another hung jury would be likely
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BSLWorkshop/post?postID=PZpwB3ppp3ljiXsB_01vzAFS1YKaSxLLk8Enxt 1KldiLWe_bRm2y636VEt9lUOGM8ut0ldD4M8hVA-gdsAEmBPRx)
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
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San Francisco prosecutors abandoned a child-endangerment case Tuesday against the woman whose 12-year-old son was mauled to death by the family's pit bulls after she left him home alone with the dogs.
The decision means Maureen Faibish, 40, will not face a retrial on charges that could have sent her to state prison for as long as 10 years for the death of her son Nicholas on June 3, 2005.
A San Francisco jury deadlocked July 31 after deliberating for more than two days, with 10 of the 12 panelists favoring acquittal on a charge of felony child endangerment against Faibish. A 7-5 split favored conviction on a misdemeanor charge.
Assistant District Attorney Linda Moore told Superior Court Judge Anne Bouliane on Tuesday that prosecutors had nothing new to present in a second trial, and that a second hung jury would be "a possibility, perhaps even a likelihood."
Faibish was not present during the brief hearing. Outside court, her lawyer, Lidia Stiglich said her client was "very relieved'' that the case is over. "I'm confident the D.A.'s office gave this matter due consideration,'' she said.
Faibish has moved to Oregon with her husband, daughter and younger son. She has been free on her own recognizance since shortly after her arrest in June 2005. Stiglich said she was going to "call Maureen up in Oregon and let her know it's done.''
The prosecution had argued during the trial that Faibish ignored warning signs that the family's two dogs were a danger when she left Nicholas alone in their Inner Sunset District home so she could attend her daughter's school picnic.
Putting the boy in a basement with food and video games, but no working toilet, and instructing him not to go near the dogs constituted criminal negligence, prosecutors said.
The boy had been bitten earlier that day by the Faibishes' 70-pound male pit bull. Nicholas had a learning disability and had difficulty following instructions, and his mother should have known he was unlikely to stay in the basement as she asked, the prosecution contended.
The defense, backed up by statements from family friends, neighbors and an animal behaviorist, portrayed Faibish as a loving mother who cared for her son and had not known that leaving him alone would put the boy at risk. They said the dogs had been involved only in minor play-type bites before.
A majority of jurors in her two-week trial concluded the prosecution had failed to show that Faibish knew there was a high likelihood that her son would be seriously injured or killed if she left him with the dogs, the standard for a felony child-endangerment conviction, one of the jurors said afterward.
Faibish told authorities after Nicholas' death that the family's male dog had been agitated because the female was in heat but was refusing to mate with him.
She said that she had given the boy a shovel to prop the basement door shut against the dogs, and that he had snack food to eat and video games to keep himself entertained. When she returned to the family's home on Lincoln Way after nearly three hours, she found the boy's body in an upstairs bedroom. E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@... (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BSLWorkshop/post?postID=j4rwpmGPucj05sM49qnT3ptt4-861adOyZgegdQLKCzCYSJZjh0MBVlZUKb1ZUgwXO2NrTlb_nTo 3jc-G8WAXu2tiSQ).
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL)
SAN FRANCISCO
Mother won't face retrial in her son's dog-mauling death
Prosecutors believe another hung jury would be likely
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BSLWorkshop/post?postID=PZpwB3ppp3ljiXsB_01vzAFS1YKaSxLLk8Enxt 1KldiLWe_bRm2y636VEt9lUOGM8ut0ldD4M8hVA-gdsAEmBPRx)
Wednesday, September 13, 2006
http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/09/13_t/ba_dog_mauling_cafra_t.gif (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL&o=0) http://sfgate.com/c/pictures/2006/09/13_t/ba_fatal_dog_mauling_t.gif (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL&o=1)
<LI class=print>Printable Version (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL&type=printable)
Email This Article (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/09/13/BAGO3L4L5S1.DTL&type=friend&emailcolor=%23057827&origin=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi%3Ff%3D%2Fc%2Fa%2F2006%2F09%2F13%2FBAGO 3L4L5S1.DTL)
San Francisco prosecutors abandoned a child-endangerment case Tuesday against the woman whose 12-year-old son was mauled to death by the family's pit bulls after she left him home alone with the dogs.
The decision means Maureen Faibish, 40, will not face a retrial on charges that could have sent her to state prison for as long as 10 years for the death of her son Nicholas on June 3, 2005.
A San Francisco jury deadlocked July 31 after deliberating for more than two days, with 10 of the 12 panelists favoring acquittal on a charge of felony child endangerment against Faibish. A 7-5 split favored conviction on a misdemeanor charge.
Assistant District Attorney Linda Moore told Superior Court Judge Anne Bouliane on Tuesday that prosecutors had nothing new to present in a second trial, and that a second hung jury would be "a possibility, perhaps even a likelihood."
Faibish was not present during the brief hearing. Outside court, her lawyer, Lidia Stiglich said her client was "very relieved'' that the case is over. "I'm confident the D.A.'s office gave this matter due consideration,'' she said.
Faibish has moved to Oregon with her husband, daughter and younger son. She has been free on her own recognizance since shortly after her arrest in June 2005. Stiglich said she was going to "call Maureen up in Oregon and let her know it's done.''
The prosecution had argued during the trial that Faibish ignored warning signs that the family's two dogs were a danger when she left Nicholas alone in their Inner Sunset District home so she could attend her daughter's school picnic.
Putting the boy in a basement with food and video games, but no working toilet, and instructing him not to go near the dogs constituted criminal negligence, prosecutors said.
The boy had been bitten earlier that day by the Faibishes' 70-pound male pit bull. Nicholas had a learning disability and had difficulty following instructions, and his mother should have known he was unlikely to stay in the basement as she asked, the prosecution contended.
The defense, backed up by statements from family friends, neighbors and an animal behaviorist, portrayed Faibish as a loving mother who cared for her son and had not known that leaving him alone would put the boy at risk. They said the dogs had been involved only in minor play-type bites before.
A majority of jurors in her two-week trial concluded the prosecution had failed to show that Faibish knew there was a high likelihood that her son would be seriously injured or killed if she left him with the dogs, the standard for a felony child-endangerment conviction, one of the jurors said afterward.
Faibish told authorities after Nicholas' death that the family's male dog had been agitated because the female was in heat but was refusing to mate with him.
She said that she had given the boy a shovel to prop the basement door shut against the dogs, and that he had snack food to eat and video games to keep himself entertained. When she returned to the family's home on Lincoln Way after nearly three hours, she found the boy's body in an upstairs bedroom. E-mail Jaxon Van Derbeken at jvanderbeken@... (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BSLWorkshop/post?postID=j4rwpmGPucj05sM49qnT3ptt4-861adOyZgegdQLKCzCYSJZjh0MBVlZUKb1ZUgwXO2NrTlb_nTo 3jc-G8WAXu2tiSQ).