Court documents show that Prince George’s County, Maryland, stopped enforcing its ban on pit bulls while working to settle a federal lawsuit filed last year by a Beltsville woman seeking to overturn the law.
The disclosure came in a filing made back in December 2022.
Last week, a lawyer for Prince George’s County told the court that the county is working on possible revisions to the law. But nothing has been finalized and sent for review yet, either to the plaintiffs or the council, which would approve changes to the law.
Filings also show that the county is working to update procedures for determining what constitutes a pit bull, as well as other administrative procedures. Those are key points that could determine whether the lawsuit gets settled or it ends up going to trial later this summer.
“Visually, there is no way to check,” said Richard Rosenthal, who is litigating the lawsuit on behalf of Denise Venero. He said there’s no reliable way to use DNA to determine a dog’s breed either.
“There is no acceptance as to what DNA markers denote a pit bull,” Rosenthal said. “The companies that do DNA testing, in their terms of service say you can’t use it for any legal purpose, and part of the reason for that is every company that does it has their own proprietary algorithm.
“There is no general, accepted definition that all the companies follow. The whole basis for accepting scientific evidence is that it is generally accepted in the scientific community. So under the current set of circumstances, we don’t see any way for this to happen in a legal manner, in a constitutional manner.”
A spokeswoman for Prince George’s County declined any comment because litigation is still pending, and so far the county council has not been updated in regards to where things stand with the lawsuit, and any potential changes to the law they would be asked to approve.
