A Littlerock man who owned four pit bulls that mauled a woman walking in the area last year was convicted Friday of second-degree murder.
Jurors deliberated less than a day before finding Alex Donald Jackson, 31, guilty of the charge stemming from the May 9, 2013, dog attack on Pamela Devitt, a 63-year-old married grandmother.
Authorities said she sustained up to 200 puncture wounds in the attack.
Devitt's husband, Benjamin Devitt, said last year that his wife began taking walks in the desert for fun and for her health. After he returned home from work that day, sheriff's deputies knocked on his door and showed him an iPod, saying they were trying to identify its owners. The device belonged to his wife.
He rushed to the hospital, where he learned she was dead, he said.
"We've never run into packs of dogs," he said. "We've only run into friendly horse people and friendly walkers, and it's just been a pleasant experience. So that's what put her in the place she was in at the time yesterday.
"It was just taking care of herself by walking and staying healthy and wanting to live a long life for our family and herself."
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The jury on Friday also convicted Jackson of three drug-related charges -- cultivating marijuana, possession of marijuana for sale and possession of a controlled substance. He was acquitted of a single charge of assault with a deadly weapon involving an alleged run-in with a horseback rider in January 2013.
Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies searched his home and confiscated eight dogs: six pit bulls and two mixed breeds, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department. Marijuana also was found growing on the property.
DNA tests confirmed that blood found on four of Jackson's dogs was the victim's, authorities said last year.
Jackson -- initially arrested the day after the fatal mauling and then released on bail just over a month later -- was re-arrested on May 30, 2013, and has remained jailed since then. He is due back in a Lancaster courtroom for sentencing Oct. 3.
