Twelve jurors, nine men and three women, were deciding Dormy’s fate
In the 1920s, there was a law in San Francisco, USA, which required dogs deemed «dangerous or evil» to be put to sleep. A terrier named Dormy violated this law after allegedly killing 14 different domestic cats.
However, the terrier’s owner, a car salesman named Eaton McMillan, was not about to give up. He insisted that Dormey face a real jury trial. And the city authorities agreed.
Naturally, Dormey remained silent. In his place, lawyer James Brennan spoke at the trial. The lawyer insisted that the dog was not guilty and should not be held responsible for his actions, since it was the dog’s nature to chase cats.
The main complaint against Dormy came from a neighbor named Marjorie Ingalls, who claimed the dog killed her eight-year-old Persian cat. An attorney forced her to identify her attacker in a group of dogs. The woman was unable to point to Dormy.
The trial was overseen by a panel of 12 jurors. Even before the trial, Brennan insisted that there were no women among them, because, in his opinion, women irrationally support cats. However, the judge rejected the lawyer’s demands.
In the end, five jurors voted for the death penalty for Dormy, while seven believed the dog was innocent. The dog was acquitted and let go home.
The media stopped following Dormy, so it is not known whether his owner decided to restrict the dog’s movements or whether cats continued to die in the neighborhood under strange circumstances.
