| COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA v. WENDY COLLEEN KNELLER No. 1016 EDA 2007 2009 PA Super 18 Atlantic: 971 A.2d 495 Filed: 1/30/2009 | |
| Appeal from the Judgment of Sentence of October 23, 2006 in the Court of Common Pleas of Carbon County, Criminal, No. CP-13-CR-0000267-2006 | |
| Before: STEVENS, MUSMANNO, KLEIN, BENDER, BOWES, GANTMAN, SHOGAN, FREEDBERG and CLELAND, JJ. | |
| Opinion by: KLEIN, J. | |
| Concurring Opinion by: CLELAND, J. | |
| Dissenting Opinion by: STEVENS, J. | |
| Wendy Colleen Kneller appeals from a conviction for criminal conspiracy to commit cruelty to animals, in violation of Title 3, Section 325 of the Dog Law, for providing a gun and asking co-owner, Randy Miller, to kill their dog after it bit Kneller’s child. We note that the statutory language of section 325, et seq., titled “Destruction of Injured, Etc., Animals,” is not merely unclear on its face but, upon further analysis, can only be characterized as confusing. Moreover, since these various sections of the Dog Law, when read together in a reasonable manner, permit a dog owner to destroy a dog by use of a firearm, we find that the entire Dog Law is ambiguous, and under the rule of lenity, no criminal conviction under that section can stand if an owner shoots his or her dog or cat. Therefore, we reverse Kneller’s conviction. | |
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