OH: Appeals court: Dog warden isn’t a ‘victim’

Appeals court: Dog warden isn’t a ‘victim’
Order dropped for fighter to cover ‘pit bulls’ boarding

Saying the Lucas County Dog Warden was not a “victim” in a 2013 dog fighting case, Ohio’s 6th District Court of Appeals vacated an order requiring a Toledo man to pay $12,030 to the dog warden for the medical and boarding expenses for his “pit bulls.”

The court ruled Friday that Carl Steward should not have been ordered to pay the restitution as part of his sentence in Lucas County Common Pleas Court. The appellate court noted that the state had conceded the restitution order was improper because state law requires that restitution be paid only to victims of crimes.

Steward, who was 21 at the time of his trial before Judge Gary Cook, was found guilty of five counts of dog fighting but acquitted on one count because one of his six dogs had no scars indicative of fighting and had not been bred.

Steward was sentenced to six months in the Corrections Center of Northwest Ohio followed by six months at the Correctional Treatment Facility in Toledo, three months in Lucas County’s work-release program, and three months on electronic monitoring.

The judge also placed Steward on community control for five years, assigned him 100 hours of community service, and required him to undergo random drug testing and maintain employment.

Steward was banned from owning another dog and ordered to pay $12,030 in restitution to the dog warden to cover housing and veterinary care costs for five of the dogs.

The dogs, dubbed the “Fearing Six,” were found chained to the floor in an otherwise vacant house in the 200 block of South Fearing Boulevard.

Four were later adopted, while two were killed.

Appeals court: Dog warden isn’t a ‘victim’ - Toledo Blade

 

The guy was ordered to pay restitution to the dog warden for the confiscated dogs' boarding. $12,030.

Ohio state law indicates that restitution be paid to victims only.

The guy appeals the decision and won. The dog warden was not a 'victim', thereby not eligible for restitution.