For more than three weeks, Severna Park Elementary School third grade teacher Matthew Schlegel has stood trial on charges that he sexually abused multiple students between 2022 and 2024 in his classroom.
Besides prosecutors, defense attorneys, bailiffs and witnesses, there has been another recurring presence in the courtroom: dogs.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Judge Pamela K. Alban, over objections from Schlegel’s attorneys, has allowed the canines to sit in the witness stand with children to help reduce stress.
Alban has instructed the jury to not draw any inferences about the use of the dogs and has taken other precautions.
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“We are not going to parade the dog in front of the jury,” Alban said. “The dog will be in the witness stand with the child prior to the jury entering the courtroom.”
“I will be taking steps to minimize any prejudicial impact,” she added.
Schlegel, 45, of Severna Park, is charged in Anne Arundel County Circuit Court with sexual abuse of a minor, third- and fourth-degree sex offense and second-degree assault. He maintains his innocence.
One of the prosecutors, Assistant State’s Attorney Sean Fox, argued that the dogs should be allowed to accompany children on the witness stand.
Fox described the stress and anxiety that they were experiencing as insurmountable.
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But Patrick Seidel, one of Schlegel’s attorneys, contended that prosecutors had not demonstrated there was a need for the dogs and opposed the request.
“We’re not saying that there was conduct that took place, and it was accidental. We’re saying it never happened. And therefore, these children are not actually victims of any crimes,” Seidel said. “Putting a dog next to them is implicitly saying, ‘They need it, because they’re a victim of a crime.’”
The Anne Arundel County Circuit Court Dog Program launched in 2018 and provides dogs upon request and prior approval to children who are testifying in criminal and civil cases.
Across the United States, there are more than 350 professionally trained dogs working in the legal system in 41 states, according to the Courthouse Dogs Foundation, a nonprofit organization based in Bellevue, Washington, that promotes their use.
Anne Arundel County Circuit Court partnered with the Caring Canines Pet Therapy Program to offer the dogs.
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One of the coordinators of the program, Gerry Mathews, said the teams are entirely volunteer and undergo a recertification process every two years.
They go to reading events at libraries, visit patients at hospitals and take part in court proceedings, Mathews said.
The court, she said, will reach out when it needs a dog. They range from French bulldogs to goldendoodles.
“It’s not always in the witness box,” Mathews said. “Sometimes, it’s just support.”
At the Cecil County Child Advocacy Center, there’s a 3-year-old black Labrador retriever named Poppy that greets families and works to lessen their anxiety.
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Children are more likely to disclose what happened to them if they feel comfortable, said Gavin Patashnick, chief of the Cecil County State’s Attorney’s Office’s Special Victim’s Unit, which is housed in the child advocacy center.
“We’ve seen kids lay down with these dogs and take a nap. We’ve seen kids talk to these dogs like they’re people. We’ve seen kids draw pictures of these dogs,” Patashnick said. “The impact that Poppy has on the front end of an investigation is immeasurable.”
Poppy, he said, is “a bit of celebrity.”
Patashnick said the dog also benefits frontline workers on child sexual abuse cases.
Appeals courts in states including Pennsylvania, Connecticut and Washington have issued decisions about the use of these dogs in trials.
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In 2021, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court considered the issue in the case of Sheron Purnell, 31, of Coatesville, Pennsylvania, who was found guilty of third-degree murder and carrying a firearm without a license in a deadly shooting and sentenced to 20 1/2 to 47 years in prison.
Chester County Common Pleas Judge David F. Bortner allowed a girl with autism who had seen the shooting have a comfort dog named Melody with her on the witness stand.
Bortner took steps including reading an instruction to members of the jury that they were not to consider the dog during their deliberations.
In the majority opinion, Chief Justice Max Baer wrote that judges have the discretion to allow witnesses to testify with the help of a comfort dog.
The state’s highest court upheld Purnell’s conviction.
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