Husband and wife Christian Alexander Moreno and Abilene Schnieder plead guilty Tuesday to the charge of dangerous dog attack causing death, a second-degree felony, according to the daily. In exchange, the Bexar County District Attorney's Office will drop the second charge faced by the pair: recklessly causing bodily injury to an elderly person.
The dangerous dog attack charge is punishable by two to 20 years in prison. The charge also potentially includes a fine of up to $10,000.
State District Judge Velia Meza will sentence Moreno and Schnieder next month, according to the Express-News. Testimony in the punishment phase of the case will get underway Sept. 9.
Prosecutors told the daily they plan to seek the maximum prison sentence for Moreno and Schnieder, both of whom are 32 years old.
The couple's pit bulls escaped from the fenced-in yard of their West Side home on Feb. 24 of last year. Two of the canines attacked Air Force vet Ramon Najera Jr., who was nearby visiting a friend. Najera's wife and a San Antonio fire captain were also bitten but survived the attack.
The brutal mauling made national headlines and touched off a fiery debate over whether San Antonio Animal Care Services has done enough to curb the community's problem with aggressive and unrestrained dogs.
After admonishing ACS staff for not bringing up its staffing and budget problems before the crisis, City Council approved a 33% budget increase for the department. Even so, animal welfare advocates continue to argue that San Antonio hasn't done enough to reform ACS and fix its sluggish response times.
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