An elderly widow cried out in anguish as she was sentenced for a couple whose dogs mauled her husband to death and left her seriously injured.
Juanita Najera cried as she spoke in court in San Antonio, Texas, about her devastation over the loss of 81-year-old veteran Ramon Najera.
Last year, a pack of dogs, including two pitbulls, attacked Nájera. On Friday, the couple was sentenced to 33 years in prison.
“You two took a big part of my life. You took my soul mate. I feel like you’re getting what you deserve for the crime you committed,” his wife sobbed.
The couple were each sentenced to nearly two decades in prison after pleading guilty to allowing the dog to attack in a fatal manner.
Juanita Najera cried in a Texas courtroom as she detailed her devastation since losing her husband to a fatal dog attack.
Moreno received an 18-year sentence, while Schneider received a 15-year sentence. Because the crime is not considered violent under state law, they will be eligible for parole after serving only 25 percent.
The couple was also fined $5,000 each by 226th District Court Judge Velia Meza on Friday.
Najera died from his injuries while trying to protect his 74-year-old wife from the ferocious animals after they escaped from a yard and began attacking in February 2023.
Police were told the dogs had been trained with meat to stimulate aggression.
The animals, named Snow, King and Legend, had been the subject of numerous complaints from neighbors and had attacked people on two previous occasions.
They were confiscated by authorities before their children begged for their return.
The incident took place on February 26, 2023 and Nájera was mutilated to death, while his wife and two other men were injured.
Ramon Najera, 81, was fatally attacked by a pack of dogs after getting out of a car with his 74-year-old wife in San Antonio, Texas. She was among three people who suffered non-life-threatening injuries in the attack.
The dogs were owned by Christian Moreno and his wife Abilene Schnieder, who pleaded guilty to dog attack resulting in death.
Firefighters were forced to use metal poles and spikes to try to scare them away when they arrived at the scene in San Antonio.
“When your dog attacked me, I could barely walk,” Juanita added in court.
“My whole body was shaking. I could barely get out of bed without help. I needed help every day.”
“You could have done something. You could have realized that those dogs needed to be put down.”
Najera’s son told the court the couple had shown no remorse for the death. As they left the court, Moreno was seen nonchalantly waving his hand towards the crowd.
“I have yet to hear from you that you apologize to our family,” she said, her hands shaking. “You are disgusting and remorseless individuals. You are disrespectful, you do not deserve to be released as free people in our city.”
Judge Meza called the tragedy “avoidable” and scolded the couple for not being better property owners.
“To echo what most, if not all, witnesses stated, this could have been avoided,” Meza said.
Christian Moreno and his wife Abilene Schnieder have been sentenced to 18 and 15 years respectively for allowing the savage attack to occur due to poor control of their dog.
Firefighters were forced to use metal spikes and poles to battle the wild animals named Snow, Legend and King.
‘(Being a dog owner) is about not only taking care of your dog, but also ensuring the safety of people in our neighborhoods, in our communities, and you failed at that.’
Animal control had seized the dogs from quarantine weeks before the deadly attack, but their owners paid to have them released 10 days later.
Moreno previously described the gruesome scene he encountered after returning home.
“We were coming back and I saw the dogs behind the door, but they were covered in blood,” she told local channel KENS5.
“It’s traumatizing to see my dogs that I’ve raised since they were puppies do that to someone.”
The researchers said news4sanantonio that the pit bulls easily escaped from their yard through a hole in the fence.
According to the arrest report, a witness video showed the dogs were not wearing collars or harnesses, a requirement of Animal Control Services (ACS). Moreno had told investigators he had complied with the guidelines.
Police said they had received information that Moreno and Schnieder “had been breeding the dogs and training them to be aggressive toward meat.”
Emergency services are on the scene of a fatal dog attack in San Antonio
The couple will be eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of their sentence since the crime is not considered violent.
Snow is pictured with her puppies, 7 males and 2 females. Snow was involved in two attacks last month, as well as the fatal attack last week.
An affidavit goes on to claim that Schneider had also “recorded conversations with her husband about how dangerous the dogs had become.”
The three terrifying American Staffordshire Terriers were euthanized and the deadly attack sparked “multiple reports of the dogs’ violent behavior.”
After the incident and before her arrest, Schnieder claimed that her husband was not responsible for the attack and that they had been careful in raising the dogs.