Dangerous dog taken off death row after seven years for killing neighbour's cat

A dangerous dog who had been sentenced to be euthanised in a bid to keep his owner out of jail has been given a reprieve after seven years.

Toni Sue Stacey was convicted for owning a dangerous dog after Staffordshire Bull Terrier Niko attacked a killed a neighbour's cat in 2015.

The judge at Albemarle County Circuit Court sentenced Ms Stacey to 90 days in jail, but suspended her prison sentence on the conditions that she remain of good behaviour, and that Niko was euthanised.

Niko was taken to a shelter while Ms Stacey began appeals against the sentence that would see the dog killed.

Appeals have gone on through various courts since 2015, including the Supreme Court of Virginia, in a bid to save the animal.

His owner visited him at the shelter (Facebook)

In one of the hearings it was argued that in the state code, “disposal” can include a dog living with a shelter or agency willing to register and house the animal.

Niko is now currently living in a no-kill shelter in Charlottesville.

In her most recent case at the Virginia Court of Appeals, Ms Stacey argued the state no longer had the jurisdiction to order Niko be “disposed of,” since the maximum sentence she could have faced for her conviction had long since passed.

Niko has spent seven years in shelters (Facebook)

Niko before he was locked away (x)

The ruling from a panel of three judges disagreed that the conviction should be thrown out but did lead to so some hope that Niko would not be put to sleep.

Judge Junius Fulton III wrote on Tuesday that the "trial courts have the authority to order the euthanisation of a vicious dog".

And he added: “But here, the trial court’s May 21, 2021 order instructed ‘disposal’ rather than euthanisation of Niko.”

He won't be euthanised now (Facebook)

He said that the 2021 order “has the effect of granting Stacey the very relief she requested — the ‘disposal’ rather than the euthanasia of Niko”.

Stacey’s attorney Elliott Harding, told WTOP news in Virginia: “We’re in communication with local animal control now, and am hopeful they’ll let him go, knowing that euthanisation isn’t required.

"Whether he can return to Toni or Audrey remains unseen but there’s definitely an opportunity for him to have another chance."