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Pless v. State

Defendant's dogs ran loose in a neighbor's yard in violation of a county ordinance.

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Following a jury trial, Christopher Pless appeals his conviction on three counts of violating county animal-control ordinances two counts of failing to restrain his pit bull dogs and one count of allowing his dogs to become a public nuisance. He challenges the sufficiency of the evidence, questions the constitutionality of the county ordinance, and argues that the trial court erred in its rulings on evidence and on sentencing and further erred in finding he received effective assistance of counsel. For the reasons set forth below, we affirm in part and reverse in part. 1. When reviewing a defendant’s challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence, we view the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, and the defendant no longer enjoys the presumption of innocence. Short v. State .1 We do not weigh the evidence or determine witness credibility, but only determine if the evidence was sufficient for a rational trier of fact to find the defendant guilty of the charged offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia .2

So construed, the evidence shows that in February 2004, in April 2004, and on several other occasions in this time frame, one or more of Pless’s five pit bull dogs were running unrestrained and loose in neighbors’ yards and garages. They frightened children and adults and barked aggressively. In addition to these repeated events, on July 14, 2004, two of these dogs ran unrestrained onto a neighbor’s property, acting aggressively and not allowing the neighbor to exit her porch. Furthermore, on August 1, 2004, two of these dogs ran unrestrained onto that same neighbor’s property, chasing and frightening the neighbor’s horses. Witnesses testified that to their knowledge, on none of these occasions had any outsider gone onto Pless’s property and set the animals free.

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