Man gets 11 years in case where police dog died

AP Graphics

(AP) NEW BERN, N.C. - A North Carolina man whose hidden cocaine was found by a police dog that bit into the package and died has been sentenced to more than 11 years in prison.

Federal prosecutors said a judge Friday ordered 33-year-old Jamie Gonzalez-Lopez to spend 135 months behind bars. He pleaded guilty to several drug charges.

Authorities say undercover federal agents ordered a kilogram of cocaine from Gonzalez-Lopez in July 2011. Gonzalez-Lopez then hid the drugs in a Brunswick County field while waiting to meet the "buyer."

Agents arrested Gonzalez-Lopez, and a sheriff's drug-sniffing Belgian Malinois named Viper was sent into the field to find the drugs. Viper accidentally bit into the package and bit and shook it, ingesting a fatal amount of cocaine.

More than 200 people turned out for a memorial service for the dog.

[RayZkevin]

(Article didn't state whether the fact that the dog died increased the ammount of time served) In my opinion the go neither kill or wanted the dog to die and shouldn't be held responsible for what it did.

[phwtb100]

Too bad it wasn't Lopez that died.

[Lerianis6]

Will this protect one person? No. It's simply time to legalize the drug trade period, it's a waste of taxpayers dollars to try to stop people from putting what they want into their own bodies.

[phwtb100]

Our country is deep enough in the toilet now. Legalizing it would only be the handle getting flushed. I don't know about you but I happen to LOVE my country and don't want to see it turned over to the garbage it seems to be collecting.

[Ulgnud]

I have seen military and law enforcement dogs training. The training and discipline of these dogs is amazing. Not a single one has "bitten" what they were trained to find. It would contaminate the evidence or in the case of an explosive device might well set it off. Something is not right here.

[gaerlic]

really pathetic some of the comments, attacking the polciy of the US, when someone who was breaking the law caused an animal to die, whether intentional or not... he still broke the law.

By the way most of the world still has cocaine as illegal, Nor is the war on illegal drugs a prohibition.... people who support illegal drugs or use them are just out right stupid. so shut it about war on drugs or using them, etc stick to the facts....you do the crime you do the time, cant handle it to bad

[jrshep54]

You, as so many, will simply have to learn the hard way, that the principles you embrace will come back to haunt you, deservedly so.

Legalizing violations of rights (legal prohibitions - yes, the war on drugs is a prohibition, even if you don't want to believe it - against behavior which violates no one's rights) does not make those violations right; it only makes government corrupt, acting to violate rights instead of protecting them, rights that you yourself depend upon or hope to depend upon.

What principle are you going to invoke when your own rights in some area have been outlawed? (You obviously and stupidly do not think that the War on Drugs violates your rights?)

When a criminal violates your rights, he at least doesn't demand that your recognize his actions as right, or legal, but the government, along with those who apologize for laws that violate rights, do.

Jamie Gonzalez-Lopez is not responsible for that dog's death. Those who used the dogs in their assault on individual rights caused his death. And, those such as yourself who give moral support to the War on Drugs are responsible for his death, and much worse than that.

[jrshep54]

You, as so many, will simply have to learn the hard way, that the principles you embrace will come back to haunt you, deservedly so.

Legalizing violations of rights (legal prohibitions - yes, the war on drugs is a prohibition, even if you don't want to believe it - against behavior which violates no one's rights) does not make those violations right; it only makes government corrupt, acting to violate rights instead of protecting them, rights that you yourself depend upon or hope to depend upon.

What principle are you going to invoke when your own rights in some area have been outlawed? (You obviously and stupidly do not think that the War on Drugs violates your rights?)

When a criminal violates your rights, he at least doesn't demand that your recognize his actions as right, or legal, but the government, along with those who apologize for laws that violate rights, do.

Jamie Gonzalez-Lopez is not responsible for that dog's death. Those who used the dogs in their assault on individual rights caused his death. And, those such as yourself who give moral support to the War on Drugs are responsible for his death, and much worse than that.

[krisd999-2009]

The US drug war has literally sunk the whole continent of South America into violence, corruption. We are funding the Taliban and AlQaeda. It all can be stopped with a simple repeal of all our regulations, but NO, Obama likes big government and senseless regulation- it's criminal. The cartels probably own him- he is from that Mafia run city- Chicago..The cartels don't want every little guy growing their own pot and poppies and drying up their cashflow..

[kroguej]

Apparently they signed treaties that requires them to take part on the war on drugs. From what I heard these treaties are set to expire soon and lots of these countries are rethinking their approach to the drug war.

[kroguej]

People get carried away with dogs, and obviously their was not intent to kill the dog. Maybe I'm reading this wrong and the 11 years was just for cocaine. Hey how's that drug war going, we won yet?

[jrshep54]

The so-called War on Drugs, just another Prohibition, is Anti-American, a violation of individual rights. As we watch America in decline, we are watching the consequences of this and other egregious repudiations of the principle of individual rights, the fundamental idea that America was founded upon.

[kroguej]

I don't know where people get this idea that America is a free country. This country is one of the most law crazy countries in the world. Its the ultimate nanny state.

[ludgerltd]

And you wonder why the US have more citizens behind bars than any other country in the world. Where was the dog's handler? As bad as a drug dealer is, he obviously had no intention to kill/poison the dog and yet he's put behind bars at the taxpayers expense for 11+ years. Makes no political or business sense to me.

[JM68]

He was not charged for killing the dog. He delivered a kilo of cocaine. Makes perfect sense to me.