A mean, out of control German Shepherd mauled my cousin when she was little; she had to get at least froty or fifty stitches in her leg. Damn dog bit me, once, too, when I went to the house where it lived (it belonged to my friend's parents).

It took several incidents for the authorities to intervene. The owners never seemed to want to do jack-shit about it.

I have met Dobermans, pit bulls and other so-called "vicious" breeds that were sweet as cherry pie. It's all in the training. And many people who buy these breeds only do so because evryone else in their neighborhood has one. This disgusts me, that certain problematic breeds become trendy and then get dumped when their are health or discipline problems (remember all those sharpeis that yuppies dumped off on shelters in the 80s when their genetically-expected eye problems cost more than they wanted to spend? And the Dalmations, that had to be given away when it turned out they werer not good with kids? And then there are the sweet golden retrievers bought for their docility that people fail to exercise sufficiently, so they grow huge, fat and die too young)

To me, people in the city getting attack dogs is just as dumb as people in the city getting big huge SUVs; both are dangerous and useless if not used for their proper purpose.

That said, I think a murder verdict is a bit heavy-handed; but these people do deserve to be punished.