Owner of Pit Bulldog That Killed Child Is Charged With Murder

MORGAN HILL, Calif. —  A chained pit bulldog guarding a marijuana crop fatally mauled a child who wandered within the animal’s reach, officials said Sunday. The dog’s owner has been charged with murder.

James Soto, 2 1/2, was pronounced dead at 3:52 a.m., a nursing supervisor at Santa Teresa Hospital in South San Jose said. The boy had been on life-support systems and never regained consciousness after he was attacked at 7 p.m. Saturday.

The child suffered massive injuries to the face and head, the supervisor said. Doctors at Santa Teresa and at a Morgan Hill clinic where the boy was first taken called it the worst trauma case they had ever seen, Police Chief John Abbey said.

The boy, who weighed 32 pounds before the attack, lost 18 pounds of body fluids and blood before he entered the trauma unit. The dog weighed at least 50 pounds.

The dog’s owner, Patrick Barry, 37, was arrested and initially booked on charges of assault and cultivation of marijuana. Officers found 200 plants in Barry’s yard and said the dog, Willy, was acting as a guard.

Barry was later charged with murder.

“The crime is similar to the type where people plant devices and burglars get killed,” Abbey said of the dog’s function in the marijuana garden.

The boy’s family lived in a detached house behind Barry’s in a residential neighborhood of Morgan Hill, about 20 miles south of San Jose.

James was playing in his yard Saturday evening when he strayed out of his mother’s view and wandered toward the dog.

It took Barry and the boy’s father to free the youngster from the dog’s jaws.

The dog and three other pit bulls at the Barry home were taken into custody by Santa Clara County animal control officers. A decision will be made later on the dog’s fate.