VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. – The state attorney tasked with determining charges in the death of 8-year-old Michael Millett says he expects to share a decision soon.
“We’re anguished by this child’s death and understand the gravity of our assignment in deciding charges in this tragic case,“ Brevard-Seminole State Attorney William Scheiner said Wednesday in a statement. ”Our team has worked closely with the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in gathering the necessary information and evidence, including laboratory tests, which can take time. We expect to share a charging decision soon and will ensure that the victim’s family is the first to be informed.”
Sunday will mark six months since Millett was mauled to death on Jan. 13 by two dogs after stopping to pet one of them while riding his bicycle around a subdivision with a friend, according to Volusia Sheriff Mike Chitwood.
Chitwood said the dogs had escaped from a property before entering Millett’s neighborhood — a gated community north of DeLand — adding an owner was not at the property when the attack happened.
Both dogs were captured by Volusia County Animal Services, retained for a time necessary to turn over some degree of evidence, and have since been euthanized, according to the sheriff’s office.
[WATCH: Dogs that attacked and killed 8-year-old boy near DeLand have been euthanized]
Millett’s death reached Tallahassee in the coming months.
Chitwood joined the boy’s family to speak on behalf of the “Pam Rock Act,” a bill named after a mail carrier who died after being mauled by five dogs several years earlier in Putnam County.
“I can tell you in 38 years in law enforcement — and I used to be a homicide detective in Philadelphia — I have never been to an autopsy where I saw such massive, massive sustained damage,” Chitwood said of Millett. “(...) I think it’s incumbent upon all of us to do our best to try to protect our children, our mail carriers, the folks who are being brutally attacked by these animals and (by) the same token, respect the rights of legitimate dog owners.”
The bill, which sought in part to create a statewide dangerous dog registry and revise punishments for the owners of unsecured dogs which attack people, was signed into law in May by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Regarding the case, it was voluntarily given to the 18th Judicial District from the 7th in the spring due to a conflict of interest. According to an executive order signed by DeSantis, one of State Attorney R.J. Larizza’s office’s employees is related to one of the dogs’ owners.
In a separate statement provided Thursday to News 6 community correspondent Molly Reed, a spokesperson for Scheiner’s office relayed his remark that the case is unprecedented in ways that affect everyone.
Although the SAO doesn’t usually comment on open cases, Mr. Scheiner recognizes that this case is unprecedented in some ways that affect everyone including the survivors.
Matt Reed- Communications Director/PIO State Attorney’s Office 18th Judicial Circuit