STATE : Dog Trainer Sentenced in Death
SAN JOSE — A burly fighting-dog trainer convicted of involuntary manslaughter because his pit bull dog killed a 2-year-old neighbor boy was sentenced today to nearly four years in prison.
“This has been a tragic accident. It has been a living nightmare for me for 2 1/2 years,†a sorrowful Michael Berry said before being sentenced by Superior Court Judge John A. Flaherty.
Prosecutors had sought to make Berry, 40, the first pet owner in the nation to be convicted of murder because of the actions of his dog. But a jury convicted him Dec. 22 on the lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter and found him guilty of two other felonies--owning a mischievous animal resulting in death and cultivating marijuana.
Berry’s 53-pound dog, Willy, chained in front of a marijuana patch the defendant was growing in suburban Morgan Hill, killed 2-year-old James Soto on June 13, 1987.
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