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6/18/09: Undue Justice - Stu On Death Row, 4 Years And Counting |
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SOURCE OF INFORMATION / BACKGROUND
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• Playing political games with a dog's life • Proposed [impossible] settlement in Stu's case • Jeff de la Rosa, Stu's dad 
PHOTOS LT-RT: Stu at Thanksgiving, 2008 after 3+ years in custody. Stu with former Animal Services Board Commissioner Marie Atake, who famously resigned in 2007, frustrated in her attempts to increase Department integrity and professionalism. Stu, on day he was impounded by L.A. Animal Services, 2005. Kinship Circle does not usually cover complex dog custody cases. Stu's story is different. His person, Jeff de la Rosa, is a Kinship Circle supporter. We've watched Stu grow old in "jail" since he was wrongfully impounded in 2005. Please read the sample letter below, and an account of Stu's ordeal after that. Stu still faces death. As always, the decision to act is yours. |
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CONTACT INFORMATION + SAMPLE LETTER
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CONTACT INFORMATION • Print/Send This Letter
EMAIL BLOCKS (all emails found for this alert) • Print/Send This Letter • TO SEND: COPY/PASTE EMAIL BLOCKS INTO BCC: LINE OF YOUR EMAIL • TYPE YOUR OWN EMAIL ADDRESS IN THE TO: LINE • COPY/PASTE SAMPLE LETTER INTO SAME EMAIL. • Change some words, sign with your name/full address and send! Los Angeles City Attorney's Office & Board Of Animal Services Commissioners Rocky.Delgadillo@lacity.org, Laurie.Rittenberg@lacity.org, Todd.Leung@lacity.org, Dov.Lesel@lacity.org, tariqkhero@gmail.com, ninekitties@aol.com, ireneponce@earthlink.net, secundar@unitedtalent.com, ajq1trq2@aol.com, Jim.Bickhart@lacity.org, Ani.Commission@lacity.org Public Safety Committee & City Officials councilmember.weiss@lacity.org, weiss@lacity.org, Councilmember.Parks@lacity.org, Bernard.Parks.Jr@lacity.org, councilmember.smith@lacity.org, Dennis.Zine@lacity.org, councilmember.reyes@lacity.org, ed.reyes@lacity.org, David.Hersch@lacity.org, Mike.Hernandez@lacity.org, Moniquea.Roberson@lacity.org, jose.gardea@lacity.org, rebecca.valdez@lacity.org, guadalupe.duran.medina@lacity.org, lisa.flores@lacity.org, tony.perez@lacity.org, monica.valencia@lacity.org, mayor@lacity.org CONTACT WITH NO EMAIL AVAILABLE: [incoming] City Attorney Elect Carmen Trutanich 180 East Ocean Blvd.; Long Beach, CA 90802 • ph: 562-216-4444; fax: 562-216-4445 ***KINSHIP CIRCLE CANNOT GUARANTEE ALL EMAILS WILL WORK*** During campaigns, recipients may change or disable their email addresses. Emails from government, corporate, or institute websites may be incorrect. Back to top SAMPLE LETTER • Print/Send This Letter Dear City of Los Angeles Officials, I trust all letter recipients are familiar with Stu, a rescued dog who lived an uneventful five years with Jeff de la Rosa, before de la Rosa entrusted his dogs to an assistant while away for a family emergency. Under that pet sitter's care, in August 2005, Stu atypically clashed with another household dog and wound up with a torn ear. It is accepted knowledge that injured animals may react defensively. As the pet sitter slipped a harness over Stu's hurt ear, the scared dog bit her twice on the arm. "A couple of puncture wounds," Commissioner Archie Quincey, a 30-year veteran of L.A. Country Animal Control, would later state. Still, a full month after the incident, the assistant served de la Rosa with a lawsuit and Stu was seized from a locked, backyard kennel. Thus began Stu's incarceration under L.A. Animal Services (LAAS) and a bureaucratic battle so absurd, Stu's story has gained worldwide notoriety. What is the point of keeping this now elderly dog on death row? Dr. Richard Polsky, a co-creator of City criteria for gauging dangerous dogs, and Bobby Dorofshar of New Leash on Life, also a City advisor and one-time member of its Spay/Neuter Advisory Committee — have testified that Stu poses no threat of aggression to humans. Their conclusion stems from assessment of Stu's pre- and post-incident behavior, plus comprehension of how the victim's actions may have triggered the bites. Dorofshar sheltered Stu at his own facility for many months, during which time he came to know the dog. The City Attorney should call off his resistance to de la Rosa's appeal and close the books on this case. Please stop shuffling Stu through a bureaucratic thicket and let the dog live his final years with de la Rosa. After four years of wrongful internment in LAAS facilities, just one fair and merciful outcome remains: Stu needs to go home. Yesterday. Sincerely, Back to top PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES WITH A DOG'S LIFE • Print/Send This Letter 
A detailed article gives an accurate picture of Stu and Jeff de la Rosa's ordeal. Kinship Circle has re-phrased it for simplicity and
length:
Stu lived uneventfully with Jeff and two other dogs for five years, before Jeff had to leave him with a sitter in Aug. 2005, due to a family emergency. He entrusted his dogs to an assistant who knew them. While away Stu atypically clashed with another of Jeff's dogs and wound up with a torn ear. The pet sitter tried to slip a harness over Stu's wounded ear, to bring him to the vet. Injured animals often act uncharacteristically defensive. Such was the case with Stu: The scared dog bit the assistant twice on her arm. The assistant did not file a report with police or L.A. Animal Services (LAAS). She told Jeff she "didn't want to get Stu in trouble." Yet three weeks later, Jeff was slapped with a lawsuit. Ten days after that, Stu was seized (without warning) from Jeff's locked outdoor kennel. Jeff rushed to Animal Services, but staff denied Stu's release, citing a bite report received one full month after its occurrence. Thus began Stu's incarceration, a battle of bureaucratic power plays so embarrassingly absurd, Stu's story is notorious worldwide. With the assistant now dramatizing her account (Stu "dragged her back and forth across the floor"), lawyers asked for six million dollars in damages. Meanwhile LAAS ruled in its initial hearing to revoke the dog's license. The verdict would have let Jeff relocate Stu outside Los Angeles or move himself. The verdict would have let Stu live. Instead, LAAS ignored the Hearing Examiner's recommendations (defying LAAS rules) and a Captain Helen Brakemeier memoed then-General Manager Guerdon Stuckey: "After reviewing the [Hearing Examiner's] report, I disagree...and think that the dog should be deemed dangerous." Brakemeier never mentioned evaluating Stu herself or what authorized her to override the original verdict. Still, Stuckey sided with Brakemeier to sentence Stu to death. Ironically, Mayor Villaraigosa fired Stuckey days later for the GM's inability to bring euthanasia numbers down. Jeff only found out about Brakemeier's inappropriate role in Stu's fate after securing all public records in the case, in an attempt to save his dog. Fast forward four years and Stu is still trapped in a bureaucratic thicket. He's aged inside City facilities as Jeff fights a relentless legal battle. Esteemed dog behaviorists — such as Dr. Richard Polsky, a co-creator of City criteria for gauging dangerous dogs, and Bobby Dorofshar of New Leash on Life, another City advisor and one-time member of its Spay/Neuter Advisory Committee — have testified that Stu poses no threat of aggression to humans. Their common conclusion stems from assessment of Stu's pre- and post-incident behavior, along with comprehension of how the victim's actions may have triggered the bites. Dorofshar even sheltered Stu at his own facility for many months, during which time he came to know the dog. Animal Services and the City Attorney's office remain dead-set on killing Stu. Are they peeved over the negative publicity? Just before the forced resignation of previous General Manager Ed Boks, the City Council admonished him for blogging against Jeff (and other LAAS critics) on the City's time. Animal Services Commission, created to monitor LAAS, even advocated for Stu's life. Commissioner Archie Quincey, a 30-year L.A. County Animal Control veteran, motioned the City Attorney to call off his resistance to Jeff's appeal. Quincey proposed the case go back to Superior Court to drop Stu's sentence because evidence shows a denial of due process. But Commissioner Quincey's motion has vanished from the Commission's agenda and a 6/8/09 meeting before Stu's Appeals Court case was cancelled as well. No one seems to know who's in charge — Animal Services Commission or Animal Services Department — of meeting agendas. It is clear, however, that Stu's case is shuffled so that Commissioner Quincey's motion goes unheard. Quincey intends to bring up Stu's case at the June 22 meeting whether it's scheduled or not. "I think it's gone too far," he told reporter Kate Woodviolet for LA Pet Rescue Examiner. "I have a lot of Animal Control experience. I saw the pictures [of the human victim's injuries], there were a couple of small puncture wounds — and the dog was injured when it happened. On that one bite Stu gets the ultimate penalty? That's like getting the electric chair for a misdemeanor!" At this point, there is but one fair and merciful outcome left: Stu needs to go home. Yesterday. |
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FACT SHEET LIBRARY
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60+ TOPICS FOR YOUR ADVOCACY MATERIALS: 8.5 x 11" Fact Sheets with photos + timely info, stats, studies. Compelling literature to educate others on the animals' behalf. Download and print Kinship Circle Fact Sheets!
DONATE to help us fund printing and nationwide distribution of Kinship Circle educational literature. DOWNLOAD FREE FACT SHEETS: • Use entire high-resolution PDF of any KC Fact Sheet to support your animal advocacy work. • Crop select photos and fact bites to make your own posters, flyers... 
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DISCLAIMER
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DISCLAIMER: The information in these materials is verified with the original source. Kinship Circle does not assume responsibility for the accuracy of the information or for the consequences of its use. Nothing on this website is intended to encourage illegal action in whatever country you are reading it in. Kinship Circle does not engage in, nor support, any form of harassment or unlawful activity. Nothing in this action alert serves to promote such conduct. Kinship Circle cannot guarantee the validity of email addresses. During a campaign, recipients may change or disable their email addresses. Email addresses obtained from government or other official websites may be outdated or incorrect. |
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