Dog at her feet, woman calmly testifies
The woman was unwavering in her answers, confident in her responses to the attorneys.
One reason for the woman’s extraordinary resolve in discussing her rape case was the extra support lying at her feet.
Milenko, her emotional support dog, was with the woman on the witness stand as she testified Wednesday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court.
It was the first time court officials and attorneys could recall seeing a dog accompany a witness.
“He calms my nerves,” she said in an interview after testifying. The Dispatch does not name victims in rape cases unless they want to be identified.
“I don’t know that I could have done that well in there without him.”
The dog at her side was a devoted 80-pound American Bully, a mix of American Pit Bull Terrier and other bull breeds that was recognized by the United Kennel Club in 2013.
The witness walked Milenko into the courtroom on a leash.
He grunted as he walked past the jury box. That’s because the jurors didn’t reach over and pet him, his owner said.
“It’s all about him,” she said later, petting the brindle blue dog at her feet. “Everybody’s his friend. He doesn’t know a stranger.”
Judge Laurel Beatty Blunt, who approved allowing the dog on the stand, told the woman to let her know if she, or Milenko, needed a break.
“We’re good,” the woman said.
After a brief whine, Milenko, named for an Insane Clown Posse album, settled in for the testimony.
The woman paid little attention to the defendant, Chavez D. Caslin, 23, one of four men who, authorities say, broke into the Groveport-area townhome that the woman shared with her boyfriend on April 30, 2015.
Prosecutors say she was raped and her boyfriend beaten. Caslin has been charged with rape.
The attackers were among a group of nine who committed a series of holdups in which an 18-year-old man was killed, prosecutors said.
“You did great,” Assistant County Prosecutor Jim Lowe told the woman afterward in an anteroom.
“It went better than I thought,” she said. “It would have been rougher without him.”
Milenko soaked up the attention and took brief naps at her feet.
“He really is active,” the woman promised.
She said she got the dog from a rescue group in January 2016 when he was 10 weeks old. “He’s very friendly, but I think if he absolutely had to, I think he’d protect me.”
The only person he has growled at was a panhandler who approached the woman.
She puts the “emotional support dog” vest on Milenko when they go to the store “because you can’t just walk in anywhere with a dog and people are judgmental of pit bulls.”
“I won’t take him to a dog park. He’s fine, but you can’t trust people and other dogs,” she said.
He plays well with other dogs, she said. “He’s kind of depressed if another dog doesn’t want to be his friend.”
Emotional-support dogs help individuals with emotional problems by providing comfort and support. Service dogs help people with physical disabilities.