Veterans law clinic saves dog on death row

Ana Chan's dog, a Great Dane named Rodgers, was sentenced to death.

Chan, a disabled Army veteran with a traumatic brain injury and partial blindness in one eye, relied on Rodgers for companionship, routine and physical support. She felt safer in crosswalks with Rodgers keeping his blue eyes on the traffic. His height meant he could close kitchen cabinets so Chan wouldn't hit her head. His strength kept her upright when she lost her balance.

The Cornell Law School's Veterans Law Practicum, which typically helps veterans with discharge-status appeals and benefits applications, recently secured clemency for Rodgers after a judge had deemed him a dangerous dog and sentenced him to be euthanized.

"When you saved his life, you saved my life, too," Chan told Jimmy Hardwick, supervising attorney of the practicum and adjunct professor in the Law School.

"It was a really difficult case," said Isaac Belenkiy, J.D. '24, who helped as part of the practicum. "The odds statistically were not in Ana's favor, and she faced a lot of challenges as a veteran, as somebody with a traumatic brain injury, as somebody who struggles with poverty. We were able to take Cornell's resources and bring not only legal representation, but really high-quality professional legal representation."

The Cornell Law Veterans Association and Cornell Law School staff launched the Veterans Law Practicumin fall 2023 as a resource for veterans seeking legal advice and representation. Law students practice under the supervision of adjunct professors who are licensed attorneys with backgrounds in disability claims and veterans' benefits. Some of the students are veterans themselves, including Aziz Ali, J.D. '26, who is assisting with Chan's case this semester.

Chan suffered head injuries that caused cognitive impairment during her time serving in the Army, but an accident in 2015 while working in a Navy shipyard after her discharge was the most severe. She got Rodgers, who she named after Aaron Rodgers, formerly the Green Bay Packers' long-time quarterback, in 2021, to help her with everyday tasks. The Great Dane is not a formally certified service animal, but Chan sees him as essential to her well-being.

Then in December 2023, one of Chan's neighbors accused Rodgers of biting her arm.

"I did not see that bite," Chan said. She always kept Rodgers on a leash. The accusation baffled her. An earlier bite complaint from a different neighbor complicated matters. In that incident, the neighbor had surprised Rodgers from behind, Chan said, and he bit her arm, causing minor bruising.

Chan couldn't navigate the court system herself and couldn't afford an attorney. A social worker at Chan's VA medical center reached out to the Veterans Law Practicum.

"Nobody else would have taken this case," Hardwick said. "Probably very few private attorneys would have even returned Ms. Chan's phone call."

But Hardwick and his colleagues could see that Chan would significantly benefit from getting Rodgers back.

So Hardwick and Belenkiy spent hours in Chan's neighborhood in Bath, New York, interviewing neighbors who said Rodgers seemed well-behaved when out for walks. They collected affidavits and found a dog behavior expert who testified at trial that Rodgers was not a dangerous dog and that in the first incident the bite was defensive. Even the mailman vouched for Rodgers.

"We had a whole list of witnesses who came in and said the same thing - that Rodgers is a big dog but a good boy," Hardwick said. "He's not really capable of the bite that they were talking about." They contended that the second bite was a case of mistaken identity - it could have been another large dog that lived nearby.

After the judge sentenced Rodgers to be euthanized in 30 days, Belenkiy rushed to write an appeal to present to a higher court.

"This case was such a big part of my last semester at Cornell," Belenkiy said. "I think the appeal was probably the last written assignment that I submitted."

While Rodgers was in custody, the 120-pound dog was transferred to a shelter in Elmira, New York, about 40 miles away.

Chan traveled by bus daily to spend time with Rodgers.

She had wanted to relocate for years, so she worked with attorney Michaela K. Rossettie Azemi, who worked with the practicum at the time, to change her housing voucher from the Department of Veterans Affairs and find an apartment in Elmira.

Both the move and the appeal were successful. Rodgers could go home with Chan as long as he received additional training, wears a muzzle in public and is neutered and insured.

"This program and Jimmy have really made my life a lot better," Chan said.

Navigating complex systems

Now Hardwick and Ali are seeking a dog trainer and veterinary care for Rodgers. They've also applied to the Department of Veterans Affairs to have Chan's disability status upgraded to increase her compensation.

"Clients who are veterans and are facing poverty have fewer resources than other clients," Belenkiy said. "You're an attorney first and foremost, but you also have to approach the case sometimes as a social worker. You have to figure out how to coordinate services from a variety of nonprofits and different governmental agencies."

Ali, who served in the U.S. Air Force for 12 years and is now in the New York Air National Guard, said his own experience with the military helped him understand veterans' benefits, but he regularly learns of new ones.

"I'd like to think that when I got out of the military I was treated really well," Ali said, "but that is not the case with everyone." Through the Veterans Law Practicum he can help ensure veterans receive the benefits they are entitled to.

"I'm helping people who came before me, who paved the path for me," Ali said. "As a first-generation American, the first person in my family to go to the military and the first person to go to law school, all of this is because other people before me came and made sacrifices so I can walk in their path."

The case gave Belenkiy and Ali experience working on an atypical claim. And it was unusual to take a case from investigation to trial and appeal all in one semester, Belenkiy said.

"Your ability to go into the courtroom as a lawyer, to write a motion, to put together an appeal - any of these skills that you've gained can be mobilized in support of people who really need help," Belenkiy said, "and that's what the veterans clinic did here."

After nine months in a shelter, Rodgers is home in time to celebrate his fourth birthday; he was born on Veterans Day 2020.

"It's better than winning the lottery," Chan said. "It's so nice in the evenings just relaxing with him on my lap."

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