Jeff Caplan’s Minute of News: Richard Rosenthal, animal attorney

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SALT LAKE CITY — Tenacious lawyers are sometimes called pitbulls but you don’t often find an attorney defending one. But Richard Rosenthal does. He has defended many pitbulls. And other dogs too, all of them facing the death penalty for biting humans.

Countless times Rosenthal has gone to court on behalf of dog owners hoping to save the lives of their precious pooches after the dogs have drawn human blood.

Rosenthal is an animal attorney who handles custody cases. He sues clinics for malpractice and defends dangerous dogs. And he’ll do anything to win. He won a reprieve for Luna, a husky who killed chickens. The New York Times said he defended a golden retriever in Milford, Connecticut that was busted for fighting with other dogs.

Rosenthal goes to the wall in these cases. On Facebook he let the fur fly — posting a picture of the Milford Town Seal superimposed over the gates of Auschwitz. In the post he complained the town “never met a dog they didn’t want to kill.”

He knows most people hate him. A dog rips into a person’s arm, he’ll often take the case. And he’s formed a non-profit made up of other lawyers who are willing to defend dangerous dogs.

Often times, when standing before a judge, he’ll raise his leg and scream objection after objection. Sometimes, he’ll win a stay of execution. Occasionally the judge will offer some cowboy justice,  ruling that the owner must get that dangerous dog out of state before nightfall.

So as he fights the long paw of the law we now have the answer to this question.

Love him or hate him, the answer is Richard Rosenthal, esquire.

Other Minutes of News:

• The qualities that made MLK’s famous speech so famous
• What if humans could get their tails back?
• Why the fall of Kabul feels so much like the fall of Saigon

Listen to Jeff Caplan’s Afternoon News every weekday from 3 to 7 p.m. for more of his “My Minute of News.” And check out the podcast below.

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