WV Supreme Court Hears Arguments at Marshall

The West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals heard four cases during a visit to Marshall Tuesday.

The court’s appearance was its sixth at Marshall University in the past decade. Among the four cases heard by the state Supreme Court was one that questioned whether a municipal court in Mercer County can order a dog be euthanized. Justice Menis Ketchum II explained the case.

“The animal control officer went to the home where the dogs lived and was talking to the owner, one of the dogs broke loose from its train and bit the animal control officer on his hands,” Ketchum said. “The animal control officer then went down to municipal court and charged the owner of the dog with a dangerous animal.”

From there the municipal court ordered the dog euthanized. Estella Robinson is petitioning the Supreme Court, arguing that the dog should not be euthanized on the merits of that order. The Supreme Court hearing on Marshall’s campus is part of constitution week.