LANCASTER – A 31-year-old man whose pack of pit bulls killed a woman in Littlerock last year was sentenced Friday to 15 years to life in state prison.
Alex Donald Jackson was sentenced in an Antelope Valley courtroom for the murder of Pamela Marie Devitt – the 63-year-old woman mauled to death while out for a walk in May of 2013.
Devitt’s husband, Ben, gave an emotional victim impact statement. He said his wife was a seamstress, she decorated cakes, she played the piano and she was “hell bent on taking care of herself” – a feat accomplished through her daily morning walks.
Just days before the deadly attack, the couple had been making retirement plans. They were going to relocate to Washington to be closer to family, Ben Devitt said.
“Her story shouldn’t have ended in such a horrific way,” he said.
Still, Ben Devitt told the court that he didn’t think Alex Jackson should be jailed for life.
Court testimony also came from Vincent Jackson, who wept as he pleaded for leniency for his brother.
Alex Jackson had no reason to believe his dogs would kill Pamela Devitt, and the incident had been a “life changer” for the Jackson family, Vincent Jackson said.
“There’s no way that we can bring back Mrs. Devitt… I know that he [Alex Jackson] feels absolutely terrible about this,” Vincent Jackson said.
On May 9, 2013, Pamela Devitt was out for her daily morning walk near her Littlerock home when she was brutally attacked by four pit bulls. She sustained more than 150 puncture wounds and died of sharp force trauma, an autopsy revealed.
Hours after the attack, authorities seized six pit bulls and two mixed-breed dogs from Jackson’s Littlerock home. Four of the pit bulls had Devitt’s DNA on their fur, prompting the second-degree murder charge.
Jackson was also charged with multiple drug-related felonies in connection with a marijuana grow investigators discovered at his residence on the 37000 block of 115th Street East.
Evidence shown at trial proved that other victims had been attacked by Jackson’s pit bulls on several prior occasions. A jury on Aug. 29 found Jackson guilty of second-degree murder, cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of a controlled substance.
In handing down the sentence Friday, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Lisa Chung acknowledged that the case was “fairly unusual.”
She sentenced Jackson to 15 years to life for the second-degree murder conviction and seven years for the other guilty counts, to run concurrently with the murder term.
Jackson is due back in court October 17 for a restitution hearing. He will be sent to state prison after the restitution hearing.
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Previous related stories:
Dog owner found guilty in mauling death
Dog owner charged with murder in Littlerock mauling death
Victim ID’d in fatal mauling, fate of captured dogs uncertain
sherri says
I think its really [removed] that some choose to always believe what they read and hear from the media ! we all know how they report the stories rite.!! I mean for gods sakes his mother lives in the same house! She would not allow insane animals to be on her property.They are wondercul people. Its all ashame for both parties involved.
Correctional Officer says
25 years to life, 15 years to life, etc… are indeterminate sentences meaning they would have to serve the full low term prison sentence before their eligible for a parole hearing. Majority of the time, inmates who serve their low term and go before the parole board they are denied parole, so unless the parole board finds a good reason to release them on parole, life does mean life in the state of California. I use to work at Chino state prison and seen many indeterminate life sentence inmates denied parole.
Peter says
this is just sad on all counts yet there are so many variables that we may never know so it is hard to pass judgement. My next door neighbor was a lady in her mid 60s who hated my dogs mainly my lab Mastiff mix and called the cops several times claiming he attacked her and her cats, one time while he was getting surgery he supposedly attacked her. She constantly threw stuff over my fence and even admitted to throwing meat dipped in antifreeze in my yard that killed one of my other dogs. She wasn’t even charged with a crime. I wonder if this lady was the same, did she scream at the dogs for barking at her? Did she throw things at them to shut them up? We will never know but this poor guys life is now forever changed and her family is in shambles
Greg says
Doubtful that she yelled at the dogs. Or threw anything at them until she was attacked well away from the location that the dogs lived at.
The dogs were out roaming. His yard was anything but secure. This is not a case of the victim causing the problem.
I am very sorry to hear about your problem. I had a similar problem with my very large black lab many years ago. Some people were afraid of it because I could sit on my porch and let him walk in the vacant field across the street. He followed commands very well and was a lovable oaf. But he was big and black and it scared them from behind their fences. So while he was in the yard one night he was poisoned. Would love to do the same to the guilty party but….
M.L. says
Concurrently….. their basically dismissing the felony drug charges.
callitasitis says
Let this conviction (If it Not overturned by some higher court) be a WARNING to all dog owners keep your large and possible dangerous dogs secured ALWAYS. You will be held to account and are responsible for your dog’s behavior. This poor woman death was preventable. This has happen before, so my question who will be the next victim ??? Some kids coming home from school? Some mother pushing a stroller with her baby?
Max says
Here’s the thing about Pitbulls. There are four combos of owner/dogs in general. 1) good owner, good dog. That’s fine typically. 2)Bad owner, good dog. That sucks for the dogs but typically it’s ok for bystanders. 3) Bad dog, good owner. I’m told that works out pretty good. 4) Bad owner, Bad dogs, well that gets people maimed and killed. I’d love to outlaw the Bad Owners, and actually if we flagged psychopaths early in their lives, put their pictures up on the web and didn’t allow them to have anything dangerous, we could curtail a lot of Bad Owners. In the meanwhile we should just stop breeding those few breeds that do all the damage.
daniel says
ignorance. stop blaming the breed. no dog is born malicious.
A richard says
No dog is born viscous but there are many breeds that were bred to be violent and capable of hunting and killing…. I have had pit bull mix dogs in the past and they were great until they passed, had a small schnauzer that was a little monster….. But the schnauzer was easy to handle and a breed that can kill would be more difficult so having a breed that can kill the owner needs to know they are responsible just as a gun owner is in keeping the firearm safe from others….
callitasitis says
All dogs are pack animals and are related to WOLVES. They have personalities like people. Like some people are dangerous and anti-social and others get along with others. We use dogs for all kinds of tasks and they are selected for their traits. Please before anyone brings a dog home make sure it is the breed with the traits YOU really want or need.
Truebrit says
If it’s not the breed does that mean we can all have a tiger as a pet.
sierrahwy says
sooo does this change anything?is he the first person in the av to get life for his dogs?
David says
Yes it changes everything..we have one less scumbag in the AV
Daniel says
He got 15 to life; not life. I doubt he will do 15. He is probably bright enough to be on good behavior and get out much earlier than in 15 years. I think he should have gotten 30 to life for having vicious dogs roaming around freely; ready to kill anyone or anything. What if it was YOU that got mauled to death or someone near and dear to you? Too bad the dogs were not killed by mountain lions or something like that. I hope he got the max at least.
sierrahwy says
in that area you either have dogs or guns…he picked dogs