Justice Facility Dogs in Tennessee
Leslie Tosh
Tennessee State Coordinator
Justice Facility Dogs US
These agencies have professional handlers working with certified facility dogs in Tennessee.
Campbell County Childre’s Center, LaFollette (CCI)
Children’s Center of the Cumberlands (CCI)
Emmy Haney House – CAC of Hamilton County, Chattanooga (CCI)
Junior’s House Child Advocacy Center, Fayetteville (CCI)
Madison County Juvenile Court Services, Jackson (CCI)
Safe Harbor of the Smokies Child Advocacy Center, Sevierville (CCI)
Sumner Children’s Advocacy Center, Gallatin (CCI)
Williamson County CASA, Franklin (CCI)
Facility dog Rocklin, trained by Canine Companions
Appellate Court Decisions
State v. Reyes (2016)
2016 WL 3090904 (2016)
Full text of the opinion here.
Tennessee Court of Appeals, May 24, 2016
Nature of Case:
Jose Reyes was convicted of one count of rape of a child. The victim was a 10-year-old boy who was living in the same house as Reyes.
Procedure in the trial court:
Prior to trial, the defendant filed a motion to exclude the dog from the courtroom. The judge held an evidentiary hearing at this motion. Ms. Wilkerson testified that she is a forensic interviewer. She described the dog’s training and her own training as his handler. She testified that when she interviewed the child, he was at first very frightened. After he had an opportunity to spend time with the dog, he calmed down and became able to focus and talk. Based on this evidence, the judge ruled that the dog’s presence would ease the child’s ability to testify. The judge also ruled that the dog would be made available to any witness on request. No other witness requested him.
During the trial, the child was seated in the witness stand with the dog at his feet before the jury was brought in. The positioning of the dog made it difficult or impossible for the jury to see him.
Jury Instructions:
“During this trial, a witness was accompanied by a courthouse facility dog. The dog is trained, it is not a pet, and it does not belong to the witness. The dog is equally available to both the prosecution and the defense. You must not draw any inference regarding the dog’s presence. Each witness’s testimony should be evaluated upon the instructions that I give you.”
Appellate Decision:
Permitting the dog in the courtroom was not an abuse of the trial judge’s discretion. The court relied on the decisions in Dye, Chenault, and Tohom.
State of Tennessee v. Christopher Cox (Feb. 2022) https://www.tncourts.gov/sites/default/files/christopher_nicol_cox_corrected_opinion.pdf
Defendant Cox was convicted by a jury of eighty-one counts of aggravated sexual battery, one count of rape of a child, and one count of continuous sexual abuse of a child. On appeal, Cox argues among other things that: the trial court erred by allowing the victim to testify with the aid of a therapy dog without a hearing to determine the animal’s training or necessity to the victim’s testimony. The Tennessee Court of Criminal Appeals noted that the trial judge did not abuse his discretion in allowing facility dog Lucia to assist the minor victim in trial and that prosecutors can continue to use facility dogs to comfort minor victims when they testify in court.
ADI Accredited Organizations
The following organizations place facility dogs in the state of Tennessee. Please visit their websites to find out more about each organization.
ADW – Assistance Dogs of the West