Pit Bull

After animal advocates protested a ruling by the state's highest court deeming all pit bulls inherently dangerous, state lawmakers now will consider a bill to overturn the decision during the special session this week. On Monday, Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chairman Brian Frosh said a circulated draft bill would make owners of any breed legally responsible for bites. In its April ruling, the Maryland Court of Appeals distinguished pit bull and pit bull mixes from other breeds, giving greater liability to dog owners and landlords who permit tenants to have them, in response to a 2007 attack on a Towson boy. The decision outraged pet owners and animal-rights groups, who say the court's decision unfairly targets dogs based on breed when such laws should be based on the dog's behavior.

In contrast to their rush to approve a gambling bill crafted in closed-door negotiations, Maryland lawmakers exercised commendable prudence in their handling of the other item on their to-do list for this week's special legislative session, a bill to modify the terms of a recent Court of Appeals decision on liability rules for pit bull attacks. Like the gambling bill, this one emerged from a post-regular legislative session study group, but unlike the gambling bill, it was amended in the General Assembly only amid extensive public debate and consultation with key stakeholders.

People say dogs look like their owners. That may not be true, but they certainly look and act like we want them to, as breeds are a construct of generations of culling for certain aesthetic and other traits, including hunting ability, intelligence and, in some cases, viciousness. Which brings us to pit bulls, considered "inherently dangerous" under Maryland law since a 2012 Court of Appeals ruling. Some of the dogs that fall into that general description are ferocious, because humans designed them to be. But so are a lot of other dogs that, for whatever nature or nurture reason, like to bite people - which is why many urged lawmakers to overturn the decision.

A controversial court ruling in April that pit bulls are "inherently dangerous" is not yet in effect and must survive an appeal before it can be applied as Maryland law, according to an opinion released this week by the state attorney general's office. The opinion, written by Assistant Attorney General Kathryn Rowe in response to a request from Montgomery County Del. Heather Mizeur for advice on how to understand the ruling, says a motion for reconsideration of the ruling now before the Maryland Court of Appeals "delays the effect of the decision.

A city detective choked up on the witness stand Friday as she described the moment she spotted a young pit bull — like her own pet, Blu — engulfed in flames on a West Baltimore street. Detective Syreeta Teel testified that she leapt from her squad car and smothered the blaze with a sweater, while the female pup, later named "Phoenix" by rescue workers, wailed. That account set the tone for the first day of testimony in the trial against teenage brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson, who are accused of dousing the dog in accelerant and setting her on fire on May 27, 2009.

A Dundalk toddler was bitten in the face by a pit bull Sunday, sending the 20-month-old girl to the hospital for several stitches, Baltimore County police said. The girl was bitten by the pit bull about 12:45 p.m. in the 7200 block of Conley Street. The family was preparing to leave the house and set the toddler on a couch next to the dog, when the dog bit her unprovoked, police said. Authorities were still trying to determine who owned the dog, but said the dog was "known to the home.

Seven months after Baltimore prosecutors dropped gun and drug charges against teenage twins accused of setting fire to a pit bull puppy, one of the young men was arrested again — this time on attempted murder charges. Travers Johnson, 18, is slated for arraignment Jan. 27 on charges of attempted murder, assault and handgun violations — roughly a week after he and his brother, Tremayne Johnson, are scheduled for trial in Baltimore City Circuit Court on animal cruelty and mutilation charges.

The trial for the twin brothers accused of setting a dog on fire so badly in 2009 that she later had to be euthanized has been postponed until at least July 26. Administrative proceedings for the re-trial of brothers Travers and Tremayne Johnson were set to begin Wednesday but were instead pushed back more than two months. The re-trial comes after a first trial for the Johnson brothers ended in a hung jury in February, with 11 jurors believing the brothers set the dog, later nicknamed "Phoenix" on fire, while one juror was unconvinced by the prosecution's case.

Isaiah Harrison didn't see the pit bull until it was too late. Now the federal law enforcement officer is home with a hand that will require surgery and physical therapy, and his 11-pound Yorkshire terrier-poodle mix is dead. "He was just a little puppy," said Pat Harrison, Isaiah's wife. "It's just so sad. It's terrible." Isaiah Harrison, a police officer with the Federal Reserve, was walking 17-month-old Little Stewie near his home in Ellicott City on Sunday when a pit bull appeared in front of them and attacked.

A dog was fighting to live Wednesday after being attacked by a man wielding a machete Tuesday in North Baltimore. According to police documents, Levar J. Bailey attacked a pit bull/shepherd mix in his neighbor's gated yard at about 6 p.m. Bailey lives several houses down in the 3000 block of Wylie Ave., according to police. When police arrested Bailey, 33, they said he was yelling, "The dog was trying to bite my daughter," according to charging documents. Bailey was taken to an area hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.