Tuesday, February 29, 2000

Dog has bitten at least two other people
By LIZ COBBS 
NEWS STAFF REPORTER
Hiroshi and Seiko Ikuma’sdog, Ato, is on the canine equivalent of death row.

Every day, the Ann Arbor couple visits Ato (pronounced Otto) at the local Humane Society where he remains confined while they appeal a judge's order that the dog should be destroyed. Calling it a miscarriage of justice, the Ikumas say Ato shouldn’t be put to death for doing what is instinctive – protecting its property from an intruder.

But the parents of the teen-age boy the chow attacked a year and a half ago say the Ikumas need to accept their dog is a menace and should be destroyed. In addition to their son, they say, the dog has bitten at least two other people, including a dog trainer hired to evaluate its temperament.

Weighing in on either side of the case are the city of Ann Arbor, which wants the dog destroyed, and a Macomb County law firm that specializes in defending animals and which vows to "appeal to the highest level we can on behalf of this innocent animal."

The Ikumas have been waging a legal battle to save their dog ever since it attacked Alex Newton, who was delivering a Sunday newspaper to their home as a substitute carrier on Aug. 23, 1998. The boy, who was 13 at the time, suffered several bites that required 13 stitches, according to court records.

Following a hearing in October, District Judge Julie Creal Goodridge ordered the dog destroyed.

The Ikumas’lawyer, Donald N. Perkins, chairman of Macomb County Attorneys for Animals, filed an appeal last week in Washtenaw County Circuit Court asking for Goodridge’s decision to be overturned. The Macomb County Attorneys for Animals, Perkins said, is a new organization of lawyers interested in advancing the protection and rights of animals.

"The district Court was completely wrong, both morally and legally, to order this innocent dog to be destroyed," said Perkins. "Michigan law rightfully protects a dog who bites when confronted with a trespasser or when tormented, provoked, or acting to defend its family from threat of harm."

Alex Newton’s parents, Roger and Coco Newton of Ann Arbor, said having to go through the case all over again will be another disruption for their family.

"It was validating for Alex when the judge ruled about the dog," said Coco Newton. "We put this on the back burner when the hearing was over, but now it’s hitting us again and it’s very disruptive. Our first priority is that this dog goes down. That dog is going to kill somebody one day and people shouldn’t have to live in fear."

"We’re amazed that it’s gone to this long and that the Ikumas are unwilling to accept the fact that they have an animal that’s a menace to society," Roger Newton said. "I can’t believe they haven’t taken responsibility for this."

The appeal has been assigned to Circuit Judge Donald E. Shelton.

The city attorney’s office said it has until March 17 to file a response to Perkins’ brief. After that, Shelton will hear oral arguments on the matter.

Seiko Ikuma said she and her husband visit the 7-year-old chow daily at the Humane Society of Huron Valley, where the dog is confined by court order.

"I’m awfully sorry for this miscarriage of justice," Seiko Ikuma said. "This was a political trial."

After Ato bit Alex Newton, the dog was confined to a kennel in Dexter and the city charged Ikuma with harboring a vicious animal, a misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of 90 days in jail and a $500 fine. A jury acquitted her of the criminal charge in December 1998.

The boy testified during the trial that he was substituting for the regular Ann Arbor News carrier on the day he was attacked. He said that the regular door to the Ikuma residence was open and he had slipped the paper inside the storm door when the dog, which was inside, began barking and ran toward the door.

The dog began leaping against the storm door, pushing it open and allowing it to escape, the boy said. Alex testified he started running away but the dog chased him, knocked him down and bit him on forearm, buttocks and the back of his left leg.

Alex’s father, who was nearby at the time of the attack, testified that he heard his son screaming and grabbed Ato by the neck to get the dog off his son. About that time, Seiko Ikuma, got the dog and took it back to the house. Roger Newton took his son to St. Joseph Mercy Hospital. According to medical testimony, the teen’s wounds required 13 stitches.

After Ikuma was acquitted of the criminal charge, the city filed a petition to have the dog destroyed under two Michigan laws pertaining to dogs and dangerous animals.

At the hearing in October, the city contended the dog was dangerous because, besides Alex Newton, it had bitten two other people, including a professional dog trainer hired to evaluate the dog’s temperament.

The Ikumas contended that the boy was trespassing and provoked their dog when he placed the newspaper inside the house. They said the dog responded in a manner to protect the owner.

In her Oct. 15, four-page opinion which ordered the dog destroyed, Goodridge wrote that Alex Newton was not knowingly trespassing." . . . delivering the newspaper the newspaper in the manner in which he delivered it, was not a ‘willful act . . . likely to precipitate the bite or attack by an ordinary animal’ . . . Ato’s behavior in this instance was with a ferocity in excess of that needed to reasonably protect the Ikumas," the judge said.

Perkins called Goodridge’s opinion "misguided," and maintains that Alex Newton was trespassing. "We are confident we will win this issue," Perkins said.