It may seem like a ridiculous claim, but that’s exactly what lawyer John A. Clements of Los Angeles, California, is talking about in an interview with ABC News.
“If you have a dog that you’re defending, you’re going to lose it,” Clements said.
“And it’s not going to stop, because you’re not going into a courtroom to argue with the defense attorney and you’re probably going to get your dog killed.”
The dog bites lawyer, who teaches dog law at Loyola University New Orleans, was speaking to ABC News about the Supreme Court decision in United States v.
Watson, which overturned the death penalty for dogs.
Watson was found guilty of murdering his girlfriend’s 11-month-old puppy, which he then kept in a crate.
The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the dogs and ordered the death sentence to be commuted to life imprisonment.
Watson has appealed to the Supreme Judicial Court, but no ruling has been issued yet.
The dog bite lawyer also spoke about the challenges faced by dog owners when they find out they’re not able to defend their pets in court.
“When you’re facing the possibility of losing a dog or a cat, or you’re dealing with a situation where you’re worried about being sued for something that’s not yours, you have to do what you have always done: You go to the dog owner,” Cments said.
Cements attorney has been involved in dog bite cases since 1988.
He also is an expert witness in animal law.
“My dog, he’s been with me since I was a little boy,” he said.
He explained why the lawyers are not so good at explaining their cases.
“You’re talking about somebody that’s going to die and somebody that could potentially kill you,” he explained.
“The way that I’m trained, I tell the dog, ‘You know, my dogs don’t have a lot of instinct.
So they don’t know how to react, and they’re going, ‘Well, what’s the problem?’
So the dog goes to the judge, and the judge goes, ‘I’m not going there.'”
When asked if he thought he could beat Watson in court, Clements responded, “Absolutely.”
He also pointed out that the Supreme Courts decision is not the first to change the law around dogs.
“This has happened before in the courtrooms in California and New York, and I think the law is going to change over time, because we are now all seeing cases where a dog is found to be dangerous, dangerous enough to be killed,” he told ABC News host Diane Sawyer.
“That’s not a very long leash to walk.
I mean, dogs don
