Posted on 05/01/2007 7:21:42 PM PDT by Huntress
Leon Barner told a Wyandotte County jury Monday that he knew what his mother-in-law, Jimmie Mae McConnell, meant when she made a desperate call and told him, “They got me — call 911.”
He said McConnell, of Kansas City, Kan., had always talked about a neighbor’s dogs.
“One day they are going to get me,” he said McConnell had told him.
Barner was the first witness to testify in the trial of Derick D. Lee, 33, of Kansas City, Kan., who is charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with McConnell’s death.
McConnell, 71, died July 27 during a pit bull attack while she worked in her backyard garden at 3100 Longwood Ave., in Kansas City, Kan.
During opening statements, Wyandotte County District Attorney Jerome A. Gorman told jurors that she died of a heart attack brought on by the trauma of the dog attack. He said bites on her body showed that McConnell was alive at the time of the attack.
Gorman said evidence would also show that Lee took care of the dogs, that they were seen in his backyard and that he had been seen walking the dogs.
Lee has pleaded not guilty and has repeatedly said the dog responsible for McConnell’s death was not his. Lee has said the animal was a stray.
In opening statements, Lee’s defense attorney, Bill Dunn, told jurors that no dog killed McConnell. He said McConnell had a heart condition so severe that she could have died at any moment, sitting at home or walking down the street.
Testimony was to continue today in Wyandotte County District Court.
To reach Robert A. Cronkleton, call (816) 234-5994 or send e-mail to bcronkleton@kcstar.com.
Damn.
That, and the phone call she made afterward.
This is a defense??
"Your wish is my command!" --The Genie
Can you come up with a better one?
Yeah, it couldn't have been the neighborly dog of peace that the poor woman feared on a daily basis it was a stray, that's the ticket. Geez.
It’s aimed at what he hopes is the one sufficiently dim juror.
Sorry, this defense only works in the movies. This guy is guilty of manslaughter.
[Clouseau] Does your dog bite? Nice doggy.
[dog bites Clouseau]
[Clouseau] I thought you said your dog did not bite.
[hotel owner] That is not my dog.
It’s aimed at what he hopes is the one sufficiently dim juror.
Save the planet: Install only dim jurors.
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