SAN ANTONIO – More than a week after testimony in the punishment hearing of a couple at the center of deadly dog attack, a judge will announce their fate Friday.
Instead of going on trial, Abilene Schnieder and Christian Moreno pleaded guilty to the charge of dangerous dog attack resulting in death, and the case went straight into the punishment phase.
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Two of their dogs attacked and killed Ramon Najera, 81, and seriously injured his wife, Janie.
For three days, 226th District Court Judge Velia Meza heard from over 20 witnesses that the state and defense presented.
The state’s main witnesses were neighbors who had complained for years about Schnieder and Moreno’s dogs that were loose and had previously attacked two other people.
Janie Najera also took the witness stand and spoke about the attack.
The defense is seeking probation for both codefendants, saying that Animal Care Services didn’t do enough and had a certain responsibility.
ACS had the dogs quarantined weeks before the deadly attack but the previous bite incident wasn’t ruled serious and after 10 days the owners paid to get them out.
Schnieder and Moreno are facing up to 20 years in prison.
KSAT 12 will livestream the sentencing, which is expected to start around 1:30 p.m.
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