After fatal dog attack, mom and son get more than 10 years amid push for owner penalties

An Ohio mom and son have been sentenced to more than a decade in prison after their two pit bulls fatally mauled a 73-year-old neighbor.

Susan and Adam Withers’ two canines, Apollo and Echo, acquired out of their condominium by means of a entrance door with a damaged latch and violently attacked Jo Ann Echelbarger. In February, a Pickaway County jury convicted them of felony involuntary manslaughter and violations of the state’s canine legal guidelines.

The Witherses have been sentenced to 14 to 19½ years in jail and might apply for judicial launch after a decade.

“I want I may offer you extra,” Pickaway County Frequent Pleas Court docket Decide Matthew Chafin instructed them. Chafin advisable that they by no means be allowed to personal pets once they get out.

It probably marks the longest legal sentence for a canine assault in state historical past. The Echelbarger case was featured in a nine-month investigation published by The Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and Canton Repository, all a part of the USA TODAY Community. The investigation revealed how harmful canine assaults throughout Ohio trigger disfigurement, amputations, psychological trauma and demise.

Throughout the nation, canines have bitten, mauled and killed an rising variety of folks lately. Nationwide, 1 million of the folks bitten by canines require medical therapy annually. Kids below 10 account for almost half of chunk victims and are overrepresented in fatalities. Specialists say extra have to be carried out to save lots of lives, however precisely methods to cease the rising variety of canine attacks has become an extremely divisive issue.

In Ohio, Pickaway County Prosecutor Jayme Fountain mentioned the prolonged sentence will in all probability be appealed.

What occurred in the course of the canine assault?

Echelbarger had been working in a backyard plot on a patio between her condominium and the Withers’ condominium in October 2024. Her 84-year-old husband who suffered from dementia and Parkinson’s illness, witnessed the mauling from the screened-in porch.

“The best way that she died, it was heinous. She was absolutely acutely aware. She was terrorized. She suffered and knew it your entire time,” her son, Invoice Rogers, on the sentencing. “So, I will be fairly straight with you: there isn’t a gap deep or darkish sufficient. There isn’t any hell sizzling sufficient. There isn’t any penalty harsh sufficient.”

After dropping his spouse and residential, Stanley Echelbarger, moved to a nursing house close to Columbus. He died in March.

“This ended his will to dwell,” Rogers mentioned.

The Echelbarger household filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Pickaway County Canine Warden Preston Schumacher, the condominium affiliation and property supervisor and the Withers. County officers declined to touch upon the civil lawsuit.

Man charged after canines kill neighbor: He’s also linked to a separate murder case.

‘Against the law of inaction’

Fountain, the prosecutor, requested for 12 years of jail time. Protection legal professional Peter Scranton advisable 4 years for Adam Withers. Protection legal professional Lisa Tome advisable fewer than 5 years in jail for Susan Withers, 62, saying she was much less chargeable for the demise than her son.

“It’s a crime of inaction,” she mentioned. “It is a failure.”

Presently, violations of Ohio’s dog laws are misdemeanors, punishable with fines that begin at $25 and restrictions for dealing with the canine sooner or later. In uncommon instances, prosecutors can search felony fees if information present prior vicious or harmful conduct from the canine that later kills an individual.

One of many canines that killed Echelbarger had beforehand been designated as a harmful canine after it attacked one other condominium resident, Kimberlee Black, and killed her pet in October 2023.

Beneath Ohio legislation, the Witherses didn’t must put their canine down after the assault on Black. As an alternative, they have been ticketed and required to purchase a harmful canine tag, publish an indication on their property, preserve the canine confined and stroll him on a muzzle and quick, chain leash.

Susan Withers obtained the canine tag 271 days after the assault on Black. At trial, police testified that the Withers’ entrance door did not latch and a towel had been jammed into an area that beforehand had a deadbolt.

Legislation enforcement shot and killed each canines within the aftermath of the Echelbarger mauling.

Susan Withers, showing in court docket in handcuffs and ankle chains, mentioned “I’m simply sorry that each one this occurred.”

At sentencing, Chafin famous that the Witherses confirmed little regret and Susan Withers solely cried when proven police video of her pit bulls being shot and listening to an outline of her third canine being held on the pound. The decide mentioned neither confirmed emotion towards their neighbor.

Comply with State authorities reporter Laura Bischoff on X @lbischoff. 

This text initially appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Dog attack death spurs 10-year minimum sentence amid push on penalties