Judge Continues Oxford Dog Attack Case

WTNH IMAGESaying the parties involved ​“need more time to resolve some ancillary issues,” a judge on Thursday continued the criminal cases against an Oxford woman accused of not cooperating with authorities after her dogs allegedly attacked and killed another dog at Jackson Cove Park last summer.

The woman, Vickie Tkacz, filed an application in December for admission into accelerated rehabilitation, a special form of probation for first-time offenders which results in the charges against them being dismissed if they stay out of trouble. 

The application was the subject of a courthouse meeting Thursday morning between several lawyers involved in the case, Judge Burton Kaplan said.

“We all met in chambers to discuss a pending application for accelerated rehabilitation,” Judge Kaplan said after Tkacz’s case was called in Superior Court in Derby.

“They need some more time to resolve some ancillary issues,” the judge went on, saying that ​“in the interests of being fair to everybody,” he would continue the case to March 16. ​“Hopefully all the ancillary issues will be resolved. We’ll be able to move forward with the application.”

Tkacz’s appearance Thursday marked the second consecutive court date on which her application was continued. In January lawyers in the case agreed to a similar continuance. 

Police said Tkacz’s four Newfoundland dogs killed Roxi, an 11-year-old Labrador mix at Jackson Cove Park on July 26. Three days later, Tkacz was charged with obstructing the duty of an animal control officer, failure to obey a quarantine order, four counts of allowing dogs to roam and four counts of animal nuisance. All are misdemeanor charges.

Details of the attack — and her alleged lack of cooperation with police and state animal control — have been hotly disputed by her attorney, Ralph Crozier.

At least two parties do not want Tkacz to be allowed into the accelerated rehabilitation program — the Severson family who owned Roxi and state Animal Control Officer Barbara Godejohn, who investigated the case and obtained a warrant for Tkacz’s arrest.

Crozier said Thursday that the Seversons, who have a civil lawsuit pending against Tkacz, objected to the application because Tkacz did not have insurance coverage on the day of the alleged attack. But, he said, that was because of a mistake by her insurance agent. He is still trying to straighten that issue out. If successful, Crozier said the only hurdle to Tkacz’s AR application proceeding would be a bill presented to the town by a veterinarian who had the dogs in his custody after the attack.

Crozier said the bill — for more than $5,000 — is ​“outrageous” but said Tkacz is willing to pay half of it to help settle the case. But he wasn’t confident in assessing whether all the pieces could come together by Crozier’s next court date.

“Everybody’s looking at me to win the lotto,” he said.

Crozier said the two dogs that allegedly attacked Roxi were sold soon after the July incident and are currently in New York. Tkacz’s other two Newfoundlands are still impounded. Crozier said that in order to get them back, Tkacz would agree to muzzle the dogs when walking them and agree to have locator chips on them to assure their location is known at all times.

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