Robbinsville – The assistant district attorney who offered a deal to drop charges in a local barking dog case if the defendant has his dog’s vocal cords surgically altered has resigned.
“An ADA’s resignation was requested and received, following a suggestion to surgically alter a dog’s voice cords,” said Quintin Ellison, public information officer for the 43rd Prosecutorial District. “There is no additional comment about – or identification of – the ADA involved.”
Published reports identified the assistant district attorney who made the offer as Caleb Decker, who represented the prosecution at a May 31 hearing. The District Attorney’s Office would not confirm the identity.
Decker made the offer to Mike Eddings, a resident of Atoah Street facing misdemeanor charges after a neighbor complained about Eddings’ Great Pyrenees dog, Leo.
Eddings appeared with his lawyer for the May 31 hearing. When Eddings rejected the plea deal, a trial date was set for Monday, Oct. 10.
Mike Eddings and his wife, Katlyn, own the 7-year-old Great Pyrenees, who a neighbor called the sheriff about because of the dog’s loud, frequent barking. The Eddings called Decker’s offer cruel and rejected it.
“If I have a colicky baby, would they ask me to do the same thing with a baby?” Mike Eddings told The Graham Star following the May 31 court appearance.
District Attorney Ashley Welch issued a statement about her assistant DA’s offer to Eddings.
“I have confirmed that an assistant district attorney in my district suggested, as a possible solution to violations of a town’s noise ordinance, that a dog’s vocal cords be surgically altered,” Welch said. “Whether offered in jest or seriousness, the suggestion was inappropriate. I am unable to offer additional comment as this is now a personnel matter.”
Graham County deputies issued
two noise violation citations to Eddings based on a Town of Robbinsville noise ordinance. Sheriff Jerry Crisp said his office received complaints from more than one of the Eddings’ neighbors.
There have been no other complaints since the first citations were issued. The Eddings have been keeping their dog inside most of the time.
The Eddings started a GoFundMe page hoping to raise $10,000, partly to pay their legal fees ($750 so far) but mostly to pay for a privacy fence that they hope will address the neighbor’s complaints about their barking dog. The effort, titled “Help get justice for Leo,” has so far raised $940 toward the $10,000 goal.
“We need a privacy fence for Leo so he can run free, and need help paying attorney fees,” Mike Eddings wrote. “We got tickets for Leo barking and the DA thinks it’s best to have his vocal cords removed. This was the plea, if we had Leo silenced they would drop the charges. Leo does not bark excessively as one neighbor has complained about. A privacy fence for him would help him be able to run around the yard with his kids and family, roll in the grass like he loves to do, romp and play like a normal dog again, and lay soaking up the sun when it isn’t too hot, and run around/lay in the snow in the winter.”
A petition on change.org – entitled “Justice for Leo – Save his Bark” had 1,086 signatures as of Monday.
“The purpose of this petition is to fight for Leo’s right to bark and his family’s right to protect him as well,” petition organizer Anita Morgan wrote. “Leo is a Great Pyrenees who loves to do the things all dogs love to do, run in the years, play with the Eddings’ children, roll in the grass, chase snowflakes and yes, BARK as all dogs do.”