Bend woman pleads guilty to reduced charges in her dogs’ fatal mauling of man at Juniper Ridge homeless camp
(Update: Maximum sentence would have been over six years)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Bend woman whose three dogs fatally mauled a man at a Juniper Ridge homeless camp last July has pleaded guilty to three of four charges and averted a trial set for next month. Both sides in the case are recommending the judge impose a 3-year prison term, when she could have faced over six years if convicted at trial.
Jessica Rae (Charity) McCleery, 38, pleaded guilty after a settlement conference last Thursday to criminally negligent homicide and two counts of maintaining a dangerous dog that killed a person. In exchange, the charge of second-degree manslaughter will be dismissed in the July 18th attack by three pit bull-mastiff dogs that killed Joseph Taylor Keeton, 56.
An eight-day trial had been scheduled to begin Jan. 9 after not-guilty pleas were entered on her behalf last month.
In her plea petition, accepted by Deschutes County Circuit Judge Wells Ashby, McCleery admitted she “did unlawfully and with criminal negligence cause the death of Joseph Taylor Keeton."
In the other two counts, she admitted she “did maintain a dangerous dog and, with criminal negligence, fail to prevent the dog from engaging in an act that, without provocation and in an aggressive manner, killed" the man.
Recommended conditions in the plea petition include three years post-prison supervision, "standard drug conditions and no possession of animals," as well as forfeiting the seized animals and payment of restitution.
A half-hour sentencing hearing is set for Friday morning before Ashby.
District Attorney Steve Gunnels said McCleery was facing a maximum sentence of six years and three months, if the manslaughter case went to trial. "The statutory maximum is 10 years, but that would not be a potential sentence under Ballot Measure 11 or the (sentencing) guidelines," he explained.
McCleery, who also lived at Juniper Ridge, was indicted in September and arrested the following month.
Prosecutors said McCleery knew her dogs were dangerous but left them unattended at the homeless camp the night of the attack. They also noted that she was ordered not to have animals after a 2015 case in which she was convicted of misdemeanor second-degree animal neglect but violated that condition several times.
