Los Angeles CBS Local
October 5, 2014
A pit bull owner whose dogs fatally mauled a jogger was sentenced Friday morning to 15 years to life in prison.
Alex Donald Jackson, 31, was convicted in late August of second-degree murder of in the death of Pamela Devitt in Littlerock.
“[The defendant] was reckless. He was irresponsible with his dogs. The dogs were terrorizing the neighborhood. He has a history and now his life has been set for,” said Ben Devitt, the victim’s husband of 43 years, on Friday.
Judge Lisa Chung said, although Jackson knew that his dogs were harmful, he chose to let them run wild to ward off people from his property that was also a marijuana grow house.
“He did not care that his dogs were so dangerous to human life and he knew that they were so dangerous to human life,” said Carolyn Yeh, a deputy District Attorney.
Devitt died after being attacked by the dogs while out for a morning stroll just a few blocks from her home in May of 2013. She was 63 years old.
The dogs left about 200 puncture wounds on her body. Her dry blood was found on the dogs’ fur after the attack, positively linking them to her gruesome death.
“I constantly have to take out of my head the last minutes of my wife’s life. I cannot think about that,” Ben added.
Since the accident, Ben told CBS2’s Adrianna Weingold that he sold the home he shared with his wife, saying it’s just too sad without her.