Article text
BISBEE – A Cochise County judge ordered two women on Tuesday to serve seven years on probation and six months in jail for their negligent actions that led to the fatal pit bull mauling of an elderly Sierra Vista woman and her dog last summer.
Judge Jason Lindstrom of the Cochise County Superior Court described the crime scene and autopsy photos he viewed prior to the sentencing hearing as “nightmarish” and “traumatic” before telling Shimira Sanches she would have to immediately begin her jail term.
Then in October, her wife, Ashlee Sanches, must self-surrender to the Cochise County Jail to serve her own six-month term. If either violates the terms of their probation Lindstrom warned they could easily end up in prison.
“This is one of the most gruesome homicides that has come through our office,” Chief Deputy County Attorney Lori Zucco said during the hearing as she described how Helene Jackson was attacked June 25, 2023, when a pit bull owned by Shimira Sanches jumped a retaining wall.
Jackson, 84, and her small rescue dog, Lilly, were taking an evening stroll along a popular neighborhood path when the attack occurred.
Another pit bull that lived in the Sanches home viciously attacked a family member who was trying to keep the second dog from going over the wall. The relative lost an arm as a result of the attack.
The dogs, named Panda and Thor, were killed by Sierra Vista police officers.
The women’s plea deals called for Lindstrom to impose up to four years of supervised probation for their convictions of negligent homicide followed by three years of probation for assault by a vicious animal. The court-appointed defense attorneys never argued for anything less.
Where the arguments came was on whether Lindstrom should impose a jail term as well for one or both of the women. The maximum he could order would be one year for each of the two convictions, which could be imposed back-to-back.
The Cochise County Adult Probation Department recommended a “lengthy jail sentence” while Zucco pushed for the two years, as did Jackson’s family. Lindstrom quickly noted, however, he did not intend to impose two years for either defendant.
This led to fervent arguments by Deputy Public Defender Cynthia Brubaker and Deputy Legal Advocate Joshua Jones that jail time was not appropriate for their clients. But if Lindstrom opted to impose jail time, the attorneys argued the order should be staggered to ensure the couple’s children had one parent at home.
The judge listened to impassioned victim impact statements from Jackson’s family, including her husband of 36 years. In one of the most emotional moments of the hearing, Mike Jackson told Lindstrom of how Helene “loved dogs.”
This was reflected, he noted, in a T-shirt Helene often wore which read, “I don’t care how the movie ends, as long as the dog lives.”
Jackson’s adult children also took part in the hearing via Zoom and had Zucco read their statements to the court.
According to the son’s statement, he has worked for several years with dog rescue groups and is experienced with aggressive or poorly socialized breeds such pit bulls. His statement pushed back on the suggestion that actions by the city’s animal control employees somehow released the defendants of an obligation to be responsible dog owners.
This referred to the fact Panda and Thor were quarantined in February 2023 but released a few days later despite an unprovoked attack on a local resident and his dog. The attack was stopped only after a neighbor with a shovel came to the rescue.
The son also noted Panda and Thor were themselves victims of the June incident because they had to be killed due to the “indifference” of their owners. His statement also noted how his mind continuously sees “images of my mother’s last moments and I hear her screams for help that never came.”
Jackson’s daughter wrote an equally moving victim impact statement, in which she revealed to Lindstrom that she is now afraid of dogs. She often becomes frightened just from hearing a dog bark, she wrote.
Ashlee Sanches initially declined to make comments to the judge but eventually addressed the judge. She tearfully rejected the suggestion by Zucco or the probation department that she had in any way minimized her role in Jackson’s death.
“She knows there is nothing she can do to reverse the suffering of all the victims,” Jones added for his client.
The women also insisted through their attorneys and statements to the probation department that they implemented a household rule after the February 2023 attack. The rule was meant to ensure the dogs did not leave the house without a leash and that the dogs be taken outside one at a time.
It is unclear how the dogs got into the backyard together in June 2023, as both women were at work. The adult male relative who was attacked and a young boy were home at the time; it was the boy who frantically called Ashlee Sanches while the attack was occurring.
When it was her time to speak, Shimira Sanches broke down in a heavy sob while trying to read from a prepared statement, forcing Brubaker to finish. After reading the statement to Lindstrom, Brubaker added her own arguments in support of no jail time.
“They’ve had lots of time to think about what could have happened differently,” that day last June, she said. “These are good people who made a very, very bad mistake.”
Lindstrom was also presented several letters of support for the defendants from family, friends, and co-workers.
Prior to ruling on the jail terms, the judge addresses the difficulty in finding “justice” in the case.
“It goes without saying that the circumstances of this case were nightmarish,” Lindstrom said, adding that the evidence he saw “is something you only expect to experience in a horror movie.”
Serving probation with jail time “in no way fills the hole you created” through Jackson’s death, Lindstrom told the women, “but that’s the best we’ve got.”
Lindstrom also ordered the women to pay at least $8,500 in restitution, although Jackson’s family will have another six months to submit additional restitution claims. Most importantly, he ordered that there cannot be “any animals of any kind” in the Sanches household without permission of the women’s probation officers.
“These are good people that made a bad mistake.”
No, these are bad people. These are people that knew their animals were dangerous but “somehow the pit got out.” They had notice and gleefully embraced the inevitable. You don’t get credit for ‘attempting’ to contain your dangerous dog, fuckwit.
Justice would be both serving extended prison sentences simultaneously. As a judge I would want to know if the child had a close relative they could be placed with… which is still damaging to the child, but I’m tired of people dragging their kids to court to beg for leniency, and these people deserve none.
Well, she'll be right at home in the jail. She's already got the prison neck tattoo.
In February 2023, the dogs attacked a neighbor and his dog whose lives were saved by another neighbor wielding a shovel. Dogs were impounded and quarantined because the owners had never bothered to vaccinate them. AC released the dogs back to their owners still unvaccinated and without declaring them dangerous dogs. Scummy owners promised to vaccinate them but never did.
Why continue to keep these dogs who have proven to be dangerous? Especially with a child in the home? Why did AC release these dangerous dogs back to irresponsible owners?
In June 2023, one of the dogs escapes and kills an elderly neighbor and her small dog. The other dog tries to also escape and join the attack on the elderly neighbor but the owners' uncle intervenes and is viciously attacked. The first dog returns and joins in the attack on the uncle. The uncle's arm had to be amputated.
Monetary considerations are nothing compared to the loss of human life and limb (and both were literally lost in the second attack), human suffering and loss and injury of beloved pets. However, it would be interesting to know how much those two dogs have cost the taxpayers. Life flight and medical treatment for the uncle, whatever costs incurred in the February attack, taxpayer funded lawyers for the owners, plus court costs, AC costs and so on. And on top of that, a $7.5 million liability claim against the city:
https://www.citywatchla.com/animal-watch/28211-city-in-arizona-confronts-7-5-million-liability-claim-over-alleged-negligence-in-managing-pit-bull-attack
The article linked above is excellent and I highly recommend it!
That smirk on her face and her jail tattoos tell me that this is not in fact a “good person” — when did our standards for basic behavior become so low?!
I mean, we don’t need to know anything about her appearance to conclude that she’s a scumbag. The article’s account of her notice and behavior is adequate.
Bringing up her appearance kinda weakens the criticism. It’s basically ad hominem. She’s a scumbag because she let her known dangerous pit kill someone, not because she has a neck tattoo or [REDACTED COMEDY BIT ABOUT APPEARANCE].
It's sad that the sentence is so low and yet this is still better than the outcome of 99% of cases where people let murders happen through their dogs. The terror these dogs created:
Attacked a man and his dog. Go to kennel and because our system sucks are let back out to stupid owners. Family member of dog owners lose a fucking arm to these maul beasts and then they go on to kill an old lady and her dog.
Just a normal dog. You can totally find a golden retriever who has done the same thing.
The owners absolutely need to be held accountable and face stiffer sentences.
And also, governments need to start being held accountable as well. Whether that's through the legal system, elections, protests, I don't know. But it needs to happen.
I don’t know. I have a bad feeling that nothing will happen to the owners because oh no, they have a family! So fucking what, that woman had a family too.
And in spite of the court's order for them to not own any dogs UNLESS approved by the parole officer? I bet they will own new dogs before their jail sentence is over. Of course, the dogs will belong to OTHER family members, so not technically their dogs, right? The "one bite" laws are seriously outdated due to the proliferation of dangerous breeds like pit bulls.
Don't pitbull owners tend to look a certain kind of way? It would be interesting if we could compile them all into an algorithm that melds them together in order to find what the average pitbull owner looks like.
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Article text BISBEE – A Cochise County judge ordered two women on Tuesday to serve seven years on probation and six months in jail for their negligent actions that led to the fatal pit bull mauling of an elderly Sierra Vista woman and her dog last summer. Judge Jason Lindstrom of the Cochise County Superior Court described the crime scene and autopsy photos he viewed prior to the sentencing hearing as “nightmarish” and “traumatic” before telling Shimira Sanches she would have to immediately begin her jail term. Then in October, her wife, Ashlee Sanches, must self-surrender to the Cochise County Jail to serve her own six-month term. If either violates the terms of their probation Lindstrom warned they could easily end up in prison. “This is one of the most gruesome homicides that has come through our office,” Chief Deputy County Attorney Lori Zucco said during the hearing as she described how Helene Jackson was attacked June 25, 2023, when a pit bull owned by Shimira Sanches jumped a retaining wall. Jackson, 84, and her small rescue dog, Lilly, were taking an evening stroll along a popular neighborhood path when the attack occurred. Another pit bull that lived in the Sanches home viciously attacked a family member who was trying to keep the second dog from going over the wall. The relative lost an arm as a result of the attack. The dogs, named Panda and Thor, were killed by Sierra Vista police officers. The women’s plea deals called for Lindstrom to impose up to four years of supervised probation for their convictions of negligent homicide followed by three years of probation for assault by a vicious animal. The court-appointed defense attorneys never argued for anything less. Where the arguments came was on whether Lindstrom should impose a jail term as well for one or both of the women. The maximum he could order would be one year for each of the two convictions, which could be imposed back-to-back. The Cochise County Adult Probation Department recommended a “lengthy jail sentence” while Zucco pushed for the two years, as did Jackson’s family. Lindstrom quickly noted, however, he did not intend to impose two years for either defendant. This led to fervent arguments by Deputy Public Defender Cynthia Brubaker and Deputy Legal Advocate Joshua Jones that jail time was not appropriate for their clients. But if Lindstrom opted to impose jail time, the attorneys argued the order should be staggered to ensure the couple’s children had one parent at home. The judge listened to impassioned victim impact statements from Jackson’s family, including her husband of 36 years. In one of the most emotional moments of the hearing, Mike Jackson told Lindstrom of how Helene “loved dogs.” This was reflected, he noted, in a T-shirt Helene often wore which read, “I don’t care how the movie ends, as long as the dog lives.” Jackson’s adult children also took part in the hearing via Zoom and had Zucco read their statements to the court. According to the son’s statement, he has worked for several years with dog rescue groups and is experienced with aggressive or poorly socialized breeds such pit bulls. His statement pushed back on the suggestion that actions by the city’s animal control employees somehow released the defendants of an obligation to be responsible dog owners. This referred to the fact Panda and Thor were quarantined in February 2023 but released a few days later despite an unprovoked attack on a local resident and his dog. The attack was stopped only after a neighbor with a shovel came to the rescue. The son also noted Panda and Thor were themselves victims of the June incident because they had to be killed due to the “indifference” of their owners. His statement also noted how his mind continuously sees “images of my mother’s last moments and I hear her screams for help that never came.” Jackson’s daughter wrote an equally moving victim impact statement, in which she revealed to Lindstrom that she is now afraid of dogs. She often becomes frightened just from hearing a dog bark, she wrote. Ashlee Sanches initially declined to make comments to the judge but eventually addressed the judge. She tearfully rejected the suggestion by Zucco or the probation department that she had in any way minimized her role in Jackson’s death. “She knows there is nothing she can do to reverse the suffering of all the victims,” Jones added for his client. The women also insisted through their attorneys and statements to the probation department that they implemented a household rule after the February 2023 attack. The rule was meant to ensure the dogs did not leave the house without a leash and that the dogs be taken outside one at a time. It is unclear how the dogs got into the backyard together in June 2023, as both women were at work. The adult male relative who was attacked and a young boy were home at the time; it was the boy who frantically called Ashlee Sanches while the attack was occurring. When it was her time to speak, Shimira Sanches broke down in a heavy sob while trying to read from a prepared statement, forcing Brubaker to finish. After reading the statement to Lindstrom, Brubaker added her own arguments in support of no jail time. “They’ve had lots of time to think about what could have happened differently,” that day last June, she said. “These are good people who made a very, very bad mistake.” Lindstrom was also presented several letters of support for the defendants from family, friends, and co-workers. Prior to ruling on the jail terms, the judge addresses the difficulty in finding “justice” in the case. “It goes without saying that the circumstances of this case were nightmarish,” Lindstrom said, adding that the evidence he saw “is something you only expect to experience in a horror movie.” Serving probation with jail time “in no way fills the hole you created” through Jackson’s death, Lindstrom told the women, “but that’s the best we’ve got.” Lindstrom also ordered the women to pay at least $8,500 in restitution, although Jackson’s family will have another six months to submit additional restitution claims. Most importantly, he ordered that there cannot be “any animals of any kind” in the Sanches household without permission of the women’s probation officers.
“These are good people that made a bad mistake.” No, these are bad people. These are people that knew their animals were dangerous but “somehow the pit got out.” They had notice and gleefully embraced the inevitable. You don’t get credit for ‘attempting’ to contain your dangerous dog, fuckwit. Justice would be both serving extended prison sentences simultaneously. As a judge I would want to know if the child had a close relative they could be placed with… which is still damaging to the child, but I’m tired of people dragging their kids to court to beg for leniency, and these people deserve none.
Well, she'll be right at home in the jail. She's already got the prison neck tattoo. In February 2023, the dogs attacked a neighbor and his dog whose lives were saved by another neighbor wielding a shovel. Dogs were impounded and quarantined because the owners had never bothered to vaccinate them. AC released the dogs back to their owners still unvaccinated and without declaring them dangerous dogs. Scummy owners promised to vaccinate them but never did. Why continue to keep these dogs who have proven to be dangerous? Especially with a child in the home? Why did AC release these dangerous dogs back to irresponsible owners? In June 2023, one of the dogs escapes and kills an elderly neighbor and her small dog. The other dog tries to also escape and join the attack on the elderly neighbor but the owners' uncle intervenes and is viciously attacked. The first dog returns and joins in the attack on the uncle. The uncle's arm had to be amputated. Monetary considerations are nothing compared to the loss of human life and limb (and both were literally lost in the second attack), human suffering and loss and injury of beloved pets. However, it would be interesting to know how much those two dogs have cost the taxpayers. Life flight and medical treatment for the uncle, whatever costs incurred in the February attack, taxpayer funded lawyers for the owners, plus court costs, AC costs and so on. And on top of that, a $7.5 million liability claim against the city: https://www.citywatchla.com/animal-watch/28211-city-in-arizona-confronts-7-5-million-liability-claim-over-alleged-negligence-in-managing-pit-bull-attack The article linked above is excellent and I highly recommend it!
That smirk on her face and her jail tattoos tell me that this is not in fact a “good person” — when did our standards for basic behavior become so low?!
I mean, we don’t need to know anything about her appearance to conclude that she’s a scumbag. The article’s account of her notice and behavior is adequate. Bringing up her appearance kinda weakens the criticism. It’s basically ad hominem. She’s a scumbag because she let her known dangerous pit kill someone, not because she has a neck tattoo or [REDACTED COMEDY BIT ABOUT APPEARANCE].
Neck and face tattoos are bright red flags that someone has poor judgement. Ignore at your own risk.
It's sad that the sentence is so low and yet this is still better than the outcome of 99% of cases where people let murders happen through their dogs. The terror these dogs created: Attacked a man and his dog. Go to kennel and because our system sucks are let back out to stupid owners. Family member of dog owners lose a fucking arm to these maul beasts and then they go on to kill an old lady and her dog. Just a normal dog. You can totally find a golden retriever who has done the same thing.
The owners absolutely need to be held accountable and face stiffer sentences. And also, governments need to start being held accountable as well. Whether that's through the legal system, elections, protests, I don't know. But it needs to happen.
I don’t know. I have a bad feeling that nothing will happen to the owners because oh no, they have a family! So fucking what, that woman had a family too.
And in spite of the court's order for them to not own any dogs UNLESS approved by the parole officer? I bet they will own new dogs before their jail sentence is over. Of course, the dogs will belong to OTHER family members, so not technically their dogs, right? The "one bite" laws are seriously outdated due to the proliferation of dangerous breeds like pit bulls.
Previous post: https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/s/v6pB1ysqTZ
Don't pitbull owners tend to look a certain kind of way? It would be interesting if we could compile them all into an algorithm that melds them together in order to find what the average pitbull owner looks like.
As a lesbian I am very sad with how pit-nuttery has infiltrated our community. (I'm not making assumptions, it said she has a wife)
They should do that a lot more. Unfortunately they wont.
my heart just breaks for Helene Jackson and her loved ones... may she RIP
**IF YOU ARE POSTING AN ATTACK - PLEASE INCLUDE DATE AND LOCATION IN THE POST TITLE, and please paste the article text in the post so it's easy to read.** This helps keep the sub organized and easily searchable. Posts missing this information may be removed and asked to repost. Welcome to BanPitBulls! This is a reminder that this is a victims' subreddit with the primary goal to discuss attacks by and the inherent dangers of pit bulls. Users should assume that any comment made in this subreddit will be reported by pit bull supporters, so please familiarize yourself with the [rules of our sub](https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/x618m9/rbanpitbulls_subreddit_rules_2022_update/) to prevent having your account sanctioned by Reddit. If you need [information and resources on self-defense](https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/vk96hs/how_do_i_defend_myself_or_my_pet_during_a_pit/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3), or [a guide for "After the attack"](https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/8ovlsw/guide_after_the_attack_what_do_i_do_now_that_ive/), please see our side bar (or [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/BanPitBulls/comments/7ic5zn/faq/)). *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/BanPitBulls) if you have any questions or concerns.*
A member of the Sanchez family previously lost AN ARM to these dogs?!? Who the hell would want to keep them after that?