State v. Bodoh

This is a dog bite case. The twist is that this case does not come to us under the civil liability statute, § 174.02 STATS., but from a criminal judgment of conviction pursuant to § 940.24, Stats. ("Injury by negligent handling of dangerous weapon, explosives or fire."). Jene R. Bodoh was charged and convicted after his two Rottweilers escaped from a fenced enclosure in his yard and attacked a fourteen-year-old boy on a bicycle while Bodoh was out of town. Bodoh argues that the statute in question was not intended to be used in dog bite cases absent some evidence that the dog was used or was…