By Nick Norlen, Staff Writer
Congo’s law has not gained enough support for a vote in the state Senate, and state Sen. Shirley Turner (D-Lawrence) has said she will not support the bill even if it does.
Her comments follow similar ones by Assemblyman Reed Gusciora (D-Princeton), who has said he won’t vote for the bill as it is currently written.
The law — named for the German shepherd that faces euthanization for its attack on a landscaper in Princeton Township in June — has not moved forward since it was approved for an Assembly floor vote by the Assembly Agriculture and Natural Resources Committee.
That vote has not been scheduled, according to a legislative aide for Assemblyman Neil Cohen (D-Union), who introduced the bill to provide an alternative to euthanizing dogs deemed “vicious.”
Meanwhile, in another development in the case that has garnered widespread attention, the Trentonian newspaper reported Thursday that a dog trainer has come forward to say that he refused requests from Congo’s owner, Guy James, to train the dog to attack — a request that allegedly came just six months before Congo mauled Mr. Rivera.
Neither the dog trainer, Tom Wallace, nor Mr. James could be reached for comment late Thursday, but Mr. James denied the charges in The Trentonian on Thursday.
Sen. Turner said Thursday that the bill has been introduced in the Senate by Sen. Ray Lesniak, who hails from the same legislative district as Assemblyman Cohen.
However, she said the bill has not garnered enough support to move out of the Economic Growth Committee, in which Sen. Lesniak serves as chairman.
Sen. Turner said Princeton Regional Health Officer David Henry has testified on the bill by stating concerns and showing pictures of landscaper Giovanni Rivera that were taken when he was in the hospital after the attack in June.
She said her lack of support for the bill stems from her belief that it will weaken the current law.
”It’s really not in the interest of public safety,” she said.
In 2002, Sen. Turner sponsored legislation involving standards for when dogs can be labeled “vicious.”
”We shouldn’t have to wait for a tragedy for a dog to be declared vicious,” she said.
Sen. Turner said she has received approximately 45 comments from constituents about the proposed law, with supporters and opponents equally splitting the tally.
While calls for support have come from as far away as California, the bulk of those opposed to the bill have called from Princeton, she said — duplicating the feedback reported by Assemblyman Gusciora.
And the concerns were also the same as those reported by Assemblyman Gusciora — that legislators should focus on other issues, like property taxes, and that the bill would weaken the current law, Sen. Turner said.
Assemblyman Gusciora has said he opposes the bill’s mandate for prosecutors to prove “beyond a reasonable doubt standard” that dogs were unprovoked during attacks.
Sen. Turner said she believes some of the support for the dog and the bill has been spurred by misreporting of what happened during the incident.
She said she has been told by officials that the dog was not provoked, and that Mr. Rivera did not pull Elizabeth James, the dog’s owner, to the ground.
However, members of the James family and their attorney have maintained that Mr. Rivera provoked the attack because he forcefully handled Ms. James while trying to hide from the dogs.
The James family is currently attempting to spare Congo by appealing his sentence to the Superior Court.
If passed, Congo’s Law — which would apply to current and pending cases and retroactively to dogs facing euthanasia back to Jan. 1 — could have the same result.
Among other changes, the bill provides an alternative for euthanizing dogs declared “vicious” by allowing their owners to comply with the same precautions for keeping a “potentially dangerous” dog, which are currently being observed by the James family.
However, the family has rejected a plea deal offered by municipal Prosecutor Kim Otis that would spare the dog by declaring him “potentially dangerous.”
Mr. James has said he won’t stop until all of his dogs are home and cleared of all charges.

