A jury trial for a man and his mother charged with involuntary manslaughter after their two pit bulls attacked and killed a neighbor continued Tuesday with testimony from police, neighbors and the coroner.
Ashville resident Adam Withers and his mother, Susan Withers, are charged with involuntary manslaughter after authorities say their dogs, Apollo and Echo, attacked and killed Jo Ann Echelbarger, 73, on Oct. 17. Echelbarger was the Withers’ next door neighbor at a condominium complex on Kildow Court.
A Pickaway County Common Pleas Court jury saw body camera footage of the aftermath of the attack and heard details Tuesday of a previous attack that killed a 4-month-old puppy.
The trial went on as scheduled Tuesday despite Adam Withers reporting illness. Withers believed he had COVID and that the jail gave him ibuprofen or acetaminophen, reducing his fever, Judge Matthew Chafin said. Withers’ temperature was normal upon his arrival to the courthouse, Chafin said.
Defense attorney Peter Scranton said he did not feel comfortable talking to Withers in close quarters or touching items he handled, and instructed him to communicate by holding up notes.
A previous attack
Apollo had previously been designated a “dangerous dog” after attacking Kimberlee Black and her dog, a 4-month-old Goldendoodle named Nemo, who died after the attack on Oct. 26, 2023.
Black testified she had taken Nemo outside on a leash so he relieve himself. As Nemo circled to find a suitable spot, Black said Adam Withers’ garage door opened. Black said she heard him say, “No, Apollo, no, Apollo.”
Black said she saw Apollo run down the driveway and leap toward her.
“I knew he was coming toward my throat,” Black testified.
Apollo latched on to Black’s arm, causing lacerations, she said. Black said he then turned and grabbed Nemo in his jaws, tearing the leash from Black’s hand, and shook the puppy “like a ragdoll.”
Adam Withers ran back inside the garage and watched the attack, Black said. Withers didn’t intervene until a bystander approached with a crowbar to aid Black, then he said, “Don’t hit my (expletive) dog with a crowbar,” she testified.
Black said the bystander replied, “Then come get your (expletive) dog,” and Withers retrieved Apollo.
Black suffered a broken wrist and broken fingers, and needed 14 stitches after the attack, she said. Nemo was taken to a veterinarian emergency room, but died.
Black was emotional on the stand, crying as she described the attack. She said her puppy saved her life that day. If Nemo hadn’t been there, she would’ve taken the brunt of Apollo’s attack, she said.
Chief Dog Warden Preston Schumacher said he attempted to follow up with Adam Withers to complete the requirements for him and Susan Withers to keep Apollo: dangerous dogs must be microchipped, vaccinated, and properly restrained and confined, and their owners must carry liability insurance.
But Withers failed to answer the door on a follow-up visit or respond to a certified letter, Schumacher said. Susan Withers eventually fulfilled the requirements.
Carol Edgar, another resident of the condominium complex where the Withers, Black and Echelbarger lived, took the stand after Black. She testified she called 911 on Oct. 17 to report the attack on Echelbarger.
Edgar said she was planting flower bulbs outside when she heard the same noise, “like a moan or a scream,” three times. Then she heard a man shouting repeatedly for help and ran toward him.
She testified she saw Echelbarger’s husband, Stanley Echelbarger, in the doorway of his condo, and the dogs were on top of something Edgar couldn’t see. Edgar sai she initially thought the dogs were attacking another, smaller dog, she said.
She ran back to her garage, where she had left her cellphone.
The dogs followed her, but Edgar said she didn’t hear them. When she turned around, she said, they were standing side by side, completely silent. Apollo body slammed her, Edgar testified, and she fell back against a wall and steadied herself.
Edgar then described a bizarre interaction with the dogs. The two dogs stood on either side of Edgar facing out of the garage, and each dog silently slammed their bodies against her legs three times, Edgar said. She said she remained silent with her arms out of reach until the dogs left, and then called 911.
Edgar testified that she saw a tear low in the screen door to the Withers’ residence, but didn’t see any open windows or other ways the dogs could have escaped the condo.
Questions surround condo doors
Police who responded to the scene Oct. 17 said there was a tear in the screen door to the condo’s screened-in patio. On a previous run to the condo on June 4, the door was not latched, and a towel was stuffed where a deadbolt should’ve been, Ashville police Sgt. Antonio Jester said.
Jester was the first officer on the scene. The prosecution played body camera video from him and other responding police.
When Jester arrived, Echo and Apollo charged him aggressively and he fired at them, he testified. Apollo retreated across the condominium complex, while Echo returned to JoAnn Echelbarger’s side.
Jester shot at Echo several times after asking Ashville Police Chief Daniel Mettler whether to put the dog down.
The dog yelped, but remained upright after several gunshots, and ran through the tear in the screen door and into the condo. Jester said it was necessary to shoot the dog to get medical aid safely to Echelbarger.
The footage also shows Echelbarger speaking to Jester. Her words were hard to make out, but Jester said she told him she didn’t want to leave Stanley, her husband.
Jester said Stanley Echelbarger, who suffers from Parkinsons disease, seemed confused about what was going on. In body camera footage, he used a walker.
In cross examinations of Jester, Mettler and another responding officer, defense attorneys asked primarily for more details about the condo doors. Scranton asked Jester whether a bullet damaged the screen or could’ve struck the door.
Lisa Tome, defense attorney for Susan Withers, asked Jester to confirm people were at the condo when he knocked on June 4 and the door swung open.
The trial will continue Wednesday.
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