|
Dog-fighting
trial gets under way
Defendant
found healthy enough to continue;
opening arguments made
November
20, 2004
By WALLACE
McBRIDE
Index-Journal
senior staff writer
A
jury began to hear testimony Friday in the trial of a man
accused of breeding and training pit bulls for illegal
fights.
David Tant, arrested in April in Charleston County,
faces 41 charges of criminal animal fighting and one charge of
assault and battery with intent to kill.
Because of
concerns about “excessive media coverage,” proceedings were
moved to Greenwood County with a jury selected Monday to hear
the case.
Since then, though, the trial has faced numerous
delays, with pretrial motions dominating courtroom activity
this week. It was further delayed Tuesday when Tant was
injured while falling down stairs inside the courthouse,
leading to a motion from the defense for a continuance in the
trial.
He was discharged by doctors Wednesday afternoon,
and was subsequently ordered by Judge Wyatt Saunders into
custody of the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office for the
remainder of the trial.
While nobody disputed Tant’s fall,
testimony Friday from medical experts suggested the defendant
was overstating the extent of his injuries.
Dr. Randy Cain,
an emergency room physician at Self Regional Healthcare, was
one of the first to treat Tant after the fall. “Tant did not
wake up, he would not answer my questions,” he said.
After
an examination, though, Cain said he believed Tant was being
intentionally non-responsive, and that he was “faking”
unconsciousness.
Dr. W.B. Sida, a neurologist, examined the
defendant later that evening and said there appeared to be no
physical explanation for some of Tant’s
symptoms.
Ultimately, Saunders decided the defendant was
fit enough to participate in his own defense.
The S.C.
Attorney General’s Office is handling the case, and
prosecutors told jurors Friday that they would receive a crash
course in the world of underground dogfighting.
Prosecutor
William Frick said the subculture has its own language, and
the slang will require occasional explanation as the trial
progresses. The trial is not directed at the breed, but at the
practice of perverting a traditional American pet for use in
bloodsports, he said.
“There is nothing wrong with having
pit bulls,” Frick told the jury during opening arguments.
“There is nothing wrong with breeding pit bulls. But there is
something wrong with training pit bulls to fight.”
Defense
attorney Dale Cobb, though, said Tant is nothing more than an
animal breeder who specializes in pit bulls. The evidence in
the case is not only circumstantial, he said, but
misrepresented.
“Things are not what they seem,” he told
the jury. “Did you ever get blamed for something your brother
or sister did? How did that make you feel?”
Prosecutor
Jennifer Evans said someone offered a bribe to an unnamed
witness scheduled to testify against Tant. The witness is a
former resident of Tant’s property where he kept pit
bulls.
The trial is scheduled to continue today. If
convicted, Tant faces a maximum sentence of 20 years for the
assault charge, and 205 years and $205,000 in fines for
criminal animal fighting.
Wallace McBride covers Greenwood
and general assignments in the Lakelands. He can be reached at
223-1812, or: wmcbride@indexjournal.com
| |
|
|
|
| | |
|
|
