Limestone District Judge Jerry Batts may rule Monday on a lawsuit between a Helena animal-rescue group and Lassie’s Friends Animal Sanctuary in Athens.

Debbie Ohm, a volunteer for Two By Two Rescue of Birmingham, is suing Karen Morrow Johnson, owner of Lassie’s Friends, alleging she deceptively took $500 to socialize three dogs and had them euthanized instead.

The parties in the case presented evidence and questioned witnesses in Limestone County District Court most of Thursday. Typically, a small claim takes less time to present.

Johnson, a retired chiropractor who set up the sanctuary along with her husband, Jeffery, about 2 1/2 years ago at 13813 Reid Road, testified that the three dogs in question had bitten workers who attempted to care for them or clean up after them.

Another Lassie’s Friends employee, Vicky Jazinski, testified that while the dogs were afraid of people they would also bite when approached with food or treats or to clean up after them.

She confirmed, under questioning by Johnson, that Lassie’s Friends employees vote on whether to euthanize one of its animals and that the vote must be unanimous. In one case, Jazinski said, she exercised her “euthanasia trump,” as Johnson referred to it, and the dog was spared because Jazinski thought she could work with it.

Plaintiff witness Sonya Smith, executive director of Two By Two Rescue, testified that she could hand feed the dogs in question and that they were not vicious. She also said Johnson assured her on the telephone that the dogs would not be euthanized. Smith said she tried by telephone to get Johnson to submit the promise in writing after Ohm was unable to get it from her in person while dropping off the dogs. Smith testified that Johnson declined but also sounded “insulted” by the suggestion that Lassie’s Friends might kill the dogs.

Smith testified that Two By Two is unusual in that it has a no-kill policy. If she or volunteers cannot find homes for animals, they network “to find a permanent environment for them that is an alternative to death,” she said.

Johnson testified that Lassie’s Friends has never claimed to be a no-kill shelter and that they are not experts in socializing feral dogs. She said she sometimes has to euthanize dogs that are vicious or who bite those who try to care for them. She questioned the quality of life that remains for a dog that bites and that no one wants to approach. She also testified that Ohm gave her the go-ahead to euthanize the three dogs over the telephone and that other employees were party to the statement.

Ohm denied the claim and said Johnson’s assertion made no sense. She produced telephone records to show she called Johnson days before the three dogs were euthanized. She said during that call she arranged to drive from Birmingham to Athens to pick up the dogs because she did not believe in killing them. She said she learned the day she arrived in Athens to pick up the dogs that they had been euthanized the night before by Tennessee veterinarian Wyatt Galbraith. Galbraith was subpoenaed to appear in court Thursday but called Ohm Wednesday to ask about faxing a notarized statement instead. His statement arrived after testimony began.

Smith, under questioning by Ohm, asked why Two By Two would drive to Athens and spend $500 to place three dogs at a sanctuary and then agree to have them euphonized when it could have simply driven three blocks and had them euphonized in Birmingham.

Johnson also produced a document reportedly signed by Ohm that stated the sanctuary’s policy regarding vicious dogs and euthanization. However, the judge rejected the document after Ohm proved it was not her signature and the judge determined that the document was dated five days before Ohm brought the dogs to the sanctuary.

Johnson said the document was prepared by a former employee who was fired for animal abuse. She said the ex-employee – whom she sometimes had to reprimand for failing to complete paperwork – probably created the document after the fact to cover herself.