None — HAWTHORNE, Fla. -- The woman who owned two pit bulls that mauled a man to death is going to jail.
74-year old Roy McSweeney died last June when two pit bulls attacked and mauled him in his own front yard. The dogs were owned by his neighbor, Deanna Blitch.
At a hearing Wednesday before Circuit Judge A.W. Nichols III, 51-year-old Deanna Blitch entered a plea of guilty to the charges of Resisting an Officer Without Violence, a first degree misdemeanor; False Information to Law Enforcement, a first degree misdemeanor; Attack by a Dangerous Dog, a second degree misdemeanor; and Attack by a Dangerous Dog, a second degree misdemeanor.
Blitch negotiated a plea agreement and was sentenced to 90 days in the Putnam County Jail to be served as 45 long weekends from Saturday until Monday. The defendant will begin her jail sentence starting on April 7, 2012.
Blitch is prohibited from possessing or acquiring any new dogs or having them on her property. She was also ordered to complete 150 hours of community service, pay $4,000 to the victim's family toward the cost of Mr. McSweeney's tombstone costs, $250 for the cost of investigation to the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, $500 for the cost of prosecution to the State Attorney's Office, and she must write a letter of apology to the investigating law enforcement officers.