An elderly widow let out screams of anguish during the sentencing of a couple whose dogs mauled her husband to death and left her seriously injured.
Juanita Najera wept as she told a court in San Antonio, Texas, of her devastation since the loss of 81-year-old veteran Ramon Najera.
Najera was savaged last year by a pack of dogs including two pit bulls which belonged to Christian Moreno and his wife Abilene Schnieder. The pair were jailed for a total of 33 years Friday.
‘You both took a big part of my life away. You took my better half away. I feel that you’re serving what you deserve for the crime you committed,’ his wife sobbed.
The couple were handed almost two decades in jail each after pleading guilty to allowing the fatal dog attack.
Juanita Najera wept in the Texas court as she detailed her devastation since the loss of her husband due to a fatal dog attack
Moreno received an 18 year sentence, while Schneider was given 15 years. As the offense is not considered violent under state laws, they will be eligible for parole after serving just 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 shield his wife, 74, from the vicious animals after they broke free a yard and began attacking in February 2023.
Police were told that the dogs had been trained with meat to encourage aggression.
The animals named Snow, King and Legend had been the subject of numerous complaints by neighbors and had attacked people twice before.
They were confiscated by the authorities before their kids begged them to take them back.
The incident took place on February 26, 2023 and saw Najera mauled to death, while his wife and two other men were injured.
Ramon Najera, 81, was fatally mauled 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 that sustained non-fatal injuries in the attack
The dogs were owned by Christian Moreno and his wife Abilene Schnieder who pleaded guilty to attack by dog resulting in death
Firefighters were forced to use metal poles and pickaxes to try and fend them off when they arrived at the scene in San Antonio.
‘When your dog attacked me, I could hardly walk,’ Juanita added in court.
‘My whole body would tremble. I could hardly get out of bed without any help. I had to have help every day.’
‘You could have done something. You could have realized those dogs needed to be put down.’
Najera’s son told the court the couple had shown no remorse over the death. On leaving the court, Moreno was seen nonchalantly throwing up a hand gesture to the public gallery.
‘I have not yet heard from you that you are sorry to our family,’ he said through shaky hands. ‘You are unremorseful, disgusting individuals. Disrespectful, you don’t deserve to be released as free people in our city.’
Judge Meza called the tragedy ‘preventable’ as she admonished the pair for not being better owners.
‘To echo what most, if not all, the witnesses testified to, this was preventable,’ Meza said.
Christian Moreno and his wife Abilene Schnieder have been sentenced to 18 and 15 years each respectively for allowing the savage attack to take place due to their poor dog control
Firefighters were forced to use pickaxes and metal poles to fight off the savage animals named Snow, Legend and King
‘(Dog ownership) involves not only taking care of your dog, but insuring the safety of the people in our neighborhoods, in our communities and you failed at that.’
Animal control had seized the dogs quarantined weeks before the deadly attack, but their owners paid to get them out 10 days later.
Moreno previously described the grisly scene he stumbled upon after returning home.
‘We were coming back and I saw the dogs behind the gate but they were full of blood,’ he told local channel KENS5.
‘It’s traumatizing to see my dogs that I have raised since they were puppies do that to somebody.’
Investigators told news4sanantonio that the pit bulls made an easy escape from their yard through a hole in the fence.
According to the arrest report, a witness video showed that the dogs were not wearing collars or harnesses – a requirement of Animal Control Services (ACS). Moreno had told investigators that he had complied with the guidelines.
Police said they’d received tips that Moreno and Schnieder ‘have been breeding the dogs and training the dogs to be aggressive with meat.’
Emergency services are seen at the location of the fatal dog attack in San Antonio
The couple will be eligible for parole after serving 25 percent of their sentence as the offense is not considered violent
Snow 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 state that Schneider also had ‘recorded conversations with her husband regarding how dangerous the dogs had become’.
The three terrifying American Staffordshire Terriers were euthanized, and ‘multiple reports of the dogs’ violent behavior’ emerged in the wake of the deadly attack.
Following the incident, and before her arrest, Schnieder claimed her husband wasn’t responsible for the attack and that they’d taken care when raising the dogs.