Veterans law clinic saves dog on death row

Read the full story by Holly Hartigan in the Cornell Chronicle.

Ana Chan’s dog, a Great Dane named Rodgers, was sentenced to death.

Chan, a disabled Army veteran with a traumatic brain injury and partial blindness in one eye, relied on Rodgers for companionship, routine and physical support. She felt safer in crosswalks with Rodgers keeping his blue eyes on the traffic. His height meant he could close kitchen cabinets so Chan wouldn’t hit her head. His strength kept her upright when she lost her balance.

The Cornell Law School’s Veterans Law Practicum, which typically helps veterans with discharge-status appeals and benefits applications, recently secured clemency for Rodgers after a judge had deemed him a dangerous dog and sentenced him to be euthanized.

“When you saved his life, you saved my life, too,” Chan told Jimmy Hardwick, supervising attorney of the practicum and adjunct professor in the Law School.

“It was a really difficult case,” said Isaac Belenkiy, J.D. ’24, who helped as part of the practicum. “The odds statistically were not in Ana’s favor, and she faced a lot of challenges as a veteran, as somebody with a traumatic brain injury, as somebody who struggles with poverty. We were able to take Cornell’s resources and bring not only legal representation, but really high-quality professional legal representation.”