Judge Orders Pit Bulls Held in Vicious Dog Case to be Returned

A Superior Court judge has ordered the return of Ozzy and Balou — two pit bulls owned by a North Kingstown family that were seized late last year.

Town officials say the dogs, -- Ozzy and Balou -- lived with another pit bull and owner and North Kingstown resident Kristy Miserendino, her boyfriend and mother.

A hearing panel in November deemed two of the three dogs vicious after they reportedly nipped or bit a passerby outside their Hickory Drive home. The family was told they could keep the dogs if they agreed to a series of requirements that included obtaining insurance, posting warning signs, keeping the dogs in an enclosed area and leashed and muzzled while off the property.

Miserendino complied with the instructions but about a month later, the family got a letter from the North Kingstown Police Department informing them that a local ordinance barring vicious dogs within a mile of a school or daycare facility meant the dogs must be removed from the house, which is within a mile of the South County Montessori School on Tower Hill Road.

Ozzy and Balou were seized and were held at the North Kingstown Animal Shelter. Mark B. Morse, ACLU volunteer attorney who filed an appeal on behalf of Miserendino, argued in court that the ordinance is illegal.

With the decision, Morse said that the law is unlikely to succeed in court and that the ACLU “had a likelihood of success its claim that the state law establishing detailed procedures for dealing with ‘vicious dogs’ preempts a local ordinance barring any ‘vicious’ dog from being housed within a mile of a school or day-care facility.”

In December, a municipal court judge determined that the mere mention of Constitutionality meant the matter must head to Superior Court as the local Municipal Court addresses only local ordinances.

Morse also argued that the owners’ due process rights were violated when the town seized the dogs after they had complied with the state vicious dog panel decision.

Miserendino, in a statement last month issued by the ACLU announcing their involvement in the case, said that the whole incident has taken a toll on the family.

“After complying with all state laws, our dogs were returned to us after being held at the pound for almost thirty days,” she said. “More than a month later, we were given ten days to move out of our home or kill our dogs. On October 15th, my children witnessed the town coming to my home at 7:30 am with a search warrant to seize our dogs, and to this day they remain at the shelter. It would break our hearts if we were forced to euthanize our dogs over this unfortunate incident.”

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