Woman Faces Trial for Homicide After Her Dogs Mauled Her Friend's 6-Year-Old Grandson By Nicole Acosta

The bench trial of a dog owner charged in the mauling death of a young boy began this week in Oregon.

Koko Miller, 57, has been charged with criminally negligent homicide, maintaining a dangerous dog and two counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment in connection with the December 2023 attack that left 6-year-old Loyalty Scott dead, prosecutors said, per Oregon Live, KPTV and KGW-TV.

On Dec. 3, 2023, Miller was watching her longtime friend’s grandson, whom she had agreed to take to school, when her two Great Dane–mastiff mixes attacked the boy in her garage in Portland’s Parkrose Heights neighborhood, KGW-TV reported, citing the trial proceedings.

The boy was pronounced dead at the scene and Miller was taken to the hospital for minor injuries, Portland police previously said. Per police, the two dogs involved in the incident have since been euthanized, while a third dog inside the home was not involved in the attack.

“His death was avoidable, and at some level, predictable,” a prosecutor argued in court on Monday, Jan. 12, KGW-TV reported. Miller claimed to police that the boy opened the garage door and “he knew he shouldn’t have opened the door,” per the outlet.

Miller’s attorney, Ryan Corbridge, said his client fought one of the dogs on the day of the attack “for what felt like an eternity,” per KGW-TV.

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“She did everything she could to put herself between the dog and the child,” the attorney said, per the outlet. “When she had nothing left physically, she yelled for the child to run. He said he could not. Ms. Miller ran to retrieve her firearm in an attempt to stop the dog. When she returned, the dog trotted past her. It was then, only then, that she realized the child was no longer alive.”

According to KPTV, a medical examiner determined the boy had 25-50 cuts and had “fractures of basically all the bones in his face,” as well as injuries to his neck.

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Loyalty’s grandmother, Rena Scott, said in court that she and Miller had been friends for a long time and had an arrangement where Miller would take the boy to school before she headed into work. Scott testified that she had never witnessed the dogs act aggressive, but said she believed they would be kept in their kennels while Loyalty was there, KGW-TV reported.

“He was a very smart kid,” Scott said in court, per Oregon Live. “It didn’t matter how big or small the animal was, he loved them.”

Loyalty was also remembered by loved ones on a GoFundMe campaign as a child who “always had a smile on his face and there was no way anyone could be in a bad mood around him.”

The trial continues.