LAFAYETTE — A Lafayette woman is pleading guilty to neglect charges in a dog attack that left her baby boy dead.
If the plea is accepted, Jennifer Connell will be sentenced in December. According to police, the infant died this past January after being attacked by the family's bull-terrier mix at their home on Greenbrush Street.
Connell is pleading guilty to one count of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury, according to the Tippecanoe County Prosecutor. A judge will decide whether to accept the plea at a December 14 hearing.
According to a probable cause affidavit, a police officer arrived at the home to find the dog standing over one-month-old Julian Connell, who had been sleeping in his mother's bedroom.
Julian had been attacked, suffering fatal head and neck injuries, according to the report. The police officer had to shoot the dog to get it off the baby.
A second officer who worked the investigation described a "terrible odor" and "piles of dog feces all over the residence," where Connell lived with the baby and one older child. "Dead and decaying mice throughout the residence and roaches on the floor were observed," according to the police report.
Jennifer Connell said she knew the dog was aggressive and had gone after the baby before. She said she was trying to find another home for the dog at the time Julian was killed.
