He handles custody disputes, death row cases, and biters. He’s Salem’s dog lawyer. - The Boston Globe
J eremy Cohen knew the direction his legal career would take when Jesse was sentenced to death.
当杰西被判处死刑时，杰里米·科恩就知道他的法律生涯将走向何方。
Jesse was a biter.
杰西是个咬人的人。
He had chomped on a woman’s leg in Marblehead and nipped at a couple of smaller dogs.
他曾在马布尔黑德咬过一名妇女的腿，还咬过几只较小的狗。
Enough was enough.
受够了。
In 2008, the town’s Select Board declared Jesse a “dangerous dog” who would have to be euthanized.
2008年，该镇的选举委员会宣布杰西是一只“危险的狗”，必须对其实施安乐死。
But Jeremy loved Jesse, the German shepherd owned by his fiancée’s ex-husband and their two teenage kids.
但杰里米喜欢杰西，这是他未婚妻的前夫和两个十几岁的孩子养的德国牧羊犬。
There must be a way to save him.
一定有办法救他。
He called F.
他给F打电话。
Lee Bailey, the famed defense attorney whom he’d met a few times.
他曾见过几次面的著名辩护律师李·贝利（Lee Bailey）。
“Nothing you can do,” Bailey replied.
“你无能为力，”贝利回答道。
Cohen called Steven Wise, the animal rights attorney who later became president of the Nonhuman Rights Project , a nonprofit organization.
科恩给动物权利律师史蒂文·怀斯（Steven Wise）打了电话，后者后来成为非营利组织“非人权项目”的主席。
(Wise died in February this year.) Wise gave him an angle: Because animals don’t have legal rights in such hearings, talk about the owner’s rights.
（怀斯今年二月去世。）怀斯给了他一个角度：因为动物在这样的听证会上没有合法权利，所以谈谈主人的权利。
Where was the due process?
正当程序在哪里？
The right to cross-examine the witnesses, to review all the evidence?
有权盘问证人、审查所有证据吗？
It was unconstitutional!
这是违宪的！
Cohen took the advice.
科恩采纳了建议。
At an appeal hearing, he argued that Jesse and his owner were deprived of due process.
在上诉听证会上，他辩称杰西和他的主人被剥夺了正当程序。
The people who ordered euthanasia had never met Jesse, never had an expert evaluate his behavior — how could they sentence him without enough evidence?
下令实施安乐死的人从未见过杰西，也从未有专家评估过他的行为——没有足够的证据，他们怎么能对他判刑呢？
They had not probed whether something had triggered the bite, or whether Jesse was an inherently dangerous dog, or if he could be trained and restrained to be safer.
他们没有调查是否有什么东西触发了咬伤，或者杰西是否是一只天生危险的狗，或者是否可以对他进行训练和限制以使其更安全。
In the end, the clerk-magistrate agreed: Jesse could live, provided he get training, be kept on a leash, and never set paw in Marblehead again.
最后，书记员兼治安法官同意：杰西可以活下去，只要他接受训练，用皮带拴住，并且永远不要再把爪子放在马布尔海德身上。
No problem: Jesse moved in with Cohen in Salem and lived out his life with his attorney and soon-to-be stepdad.
没问题：杰西搬到塞勒姆与科恩同居，并与他的律师和即将成为继父的人一起生活。
News of the exoneration spread, and the lawyer started getting calls from other pet owners.
无罪的消息传开，律师开始接到其他宠物主人的电话。
They called with capital punishment cases, grievances against kennels for negligence in dog care, messy divorces involving custody battles over the family dog.
他们提出了死刑案件、对狗舍疏忽照顾狗的不满、涉及家中狗监护权争夺的混乱离婚案。
Cohen was so successful and motivated by these cases that he sold his debt collection business and in 2016 opened Boston Dog Lawyers, a firm devoted primarily to his new clientele.
科恩非常成功，并受到这些案件的激励，他卖掉了自己的收债业务，并于 2016 年开设了 Boston Dog Lawyers，一家主要服务于他的新客户的公司。
(He’s also represented cats, horses, pigs, chickens , turkeys, turtles, snakes, an iguana, and a parrot.)
（他还代表过猫、马、猪、鸡、火鸡、乌龟、蛇、鬣蜥和鹦鹉。）
The idea is not as odd as it may have seemed at the time.
这个想法并不像当时看起来那么奇怪。
Over the years, Americans’ relationship with animals has changed, and our laws have changed with it.
多年来，美国人与动物的关系发生了变化，我们的法律也随之改变。
In most states, animal abuse has gone from a misdemeanor to a criminal offense.
在大多数州，虐待动物已从轻罪转变为刑事犯罪。
Veterinarians in Massachusetts, along with 21 other states, are required to report suspected cases of animal abuse to the authorities, just as pediatricians must with suspected child abuse.
马萨诸塞州以及其他 21 个州的兽医必须向当局报告可疑的虐待动物案件，就像儿科医生必须向当局报告可疑的虐待儿童案件一样。
The FBI now assigns animal abuse cases to the same categories as other major crimes.
联邦调查局现在将虐待动物案件归为与其他重大犯罪相同的类别。
Laws protecting farm animals from inhumane confinement have been passed in several states, including Massachusetts.
包括马萨诸塞州在内的几个州已经通过了保护农场动物免受不人道监禁的法律。
“Poll after poll after poll has shown that Americans care very deeply about animal protection issues and animal welfare,” says Chris Green, executive director of the Animal Legal Defense Fund and former director of the animal law program at Harvard Law School.
“一次又一次的民意调查表明，美国人非常关心动物保护问题和动物福利，”动物法律辩护基金会执行董事、哈佛法学院动物法项目前主任克里斯·格林说。
As a result, this corner of the legal field has undergone “a massive explosion.”
于是，法律领域的这个角落发生了“大爆炸”。
More than 160 law schools now have courses that teach animal law, Green says.
格林说，现在有 160 多所法学院开设了教授动物法的课程。
That includes everything from wildlife protection, to farm animal treatment, to trafficking in endangered species.
这包括从野生动物保护、农场动物治疗到贩运濒危物种的方方面面。
And one small but growing specialty of the law involves advocating for pets and their owners.
该法律的一个虽小但不断发展的专业是为宠物及其主人辩护。
Fewer than a dozen attorneys practice pet law full time in America, and Cohen is among the most skilled and prominent.
在美国，全职从事宠物法工作的律师不到十几名，科恩是其中最熟练、最杰出的律师之一。
(Not bad for someone whose first-year classmates at Suffolk University Law School jokingly voted him “least likely to return” and “most likely to need a lawyer himself.”)
（对于萨福克大学法学院一年级同学开玩笑地投票给他“最不可能回来”和“最有可能自己需要律师”的人来说，这还不错。）
These days, Cohen’s caseload is spiking.
这些天，科恩的案件数量激增。
Nearly 1 in 5 households in the country welcomed a new cat or dog during the COVID pandemic, according to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, and more and more people are realizing that owning a pet can be a complicated business — not only in terms of caregiving, but legally as well.
根据美国防止虐待动物协会的数据，在新冠病毒大流行期间，该国近五分之一的家庭迎来了一只新的猫或狗，越来越多的人意识到养宠物可能是一件复杂的事情——不仅在照顾方面，而且在法律方面也是如此。
And that’s where Jeremy Cohen’s services come in.
这就是 Jeremy Cohen 的服务发挥作用的地方。
“Jeremy’s an anomaly,” says Kara Holmquist, director of advocacy for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
“杰里米是个异类，”马萨诸塞州防止虐待动物协会的宣传主任卡拉·霍尔姆奎斯特说。
“He’s probably the first person I know to transform his whole legal practice to dealing with animal issues.”
“他可能是我认识的第一个将整个法律实践转变为处理动物问题的人。”
COHEN IS NO ONE’S IDEA of Atticus Finch, the lawyer in To Kill a Mockingbird.
科恩不是《杀死一只知更鸟》中律师阿提克斯·芬奇的理想化身。
He doesn’t look like Gregory Peck (who among us does?), nor does he speak in mellifluous tones.
他看起来不像格利高里·派克（我们当中有谁是这样的？），他说话的语气也不像。
In court, his sentences come out in bursts as he recalls and deploys legal precedents.
在法庭上，当他回忆并运用法律先例时，他的判决接二连三地出来。
With his graying hair, craggy face, and suits that seem to hang off his body, he comes across as more rumpled than refined.
他灰白的头发，粗糙的脸，西装似乎从身上垂下来，给人的印象是皱巴巴的，而不是优雅的。
But for many pet owners, he gets outcomes that feel like legal miracles in court.
但对于许多宠物主人来说，他在法庭上得到的结果感觉就像是法律奇迹。
I watch him in action during a hearing of the Tisbury Select Board, held over Zoom in July.
我在 7 月份通过 Zoom 举行的 Tisbury Select Board 听证会上看到了他的表现。
The purpose is to decide whether to designate a 69-pound husky named Scooby a “dangerous dog” — a label that, under Massachusetts law, requires an escalating series of measures to protect the public, from muzzling to fencing to, in some cases, euthanasia.
目的是决定是否将一只名叫史酷比（Scooby）的 69 磅重的哈士奇指定为“危险狗”——根据马萨诸塞州法律，这一标签要求采取一系列不断升级的措施来保护公众，从戴上嘴套到围栏，甚至在某些情况下安乐死。
I had read Scooby’s case file a day earlier and told Cohen that I didn’t see how he could possibly defend him.
我一天前读过史酷比的案件卷宗，并告诉科恩我不知道他如何为他辩护。
As the hearing begins, Heather Maciel, Tisbury’s animal control officer, lays out the evidence.
听证会开始时，蒂斯伯里的动物控制官员希瑟·马西尔 (Heather Maciel) 列出了证据。
It’s grim.
情况很严峻。
Scooby has bitten four people over a seven-month period — both off-leash and on — all allegedly unprovoked and two resulting in trips to the ER for stitches.
在七个月的时间里，史酷比咬了四人——无论是脱绳的还是拴着的——据称都是无缘无故的，其中两人被送往急诊室缝针。
The most recent incident happened in June: A volunteer at the Chicken Alley Thrift Shop in Vineyard Haven reported that “a leashed dog charged at me .
最近的一次事件发生在 6 月：Vineyard Haven 的 Chicken Alley 旧货店的一名志愿者报告说，“一只被拴着的狗冲向我……”
.
。
.
。
and bit me on my right thigh,” according to a complaint filed with the police.
并咬了我的右大腿。”向警方提交的一份投诉称。
Cohen starts by admitting fault — a vital requirement, he tells me later.
科恩首先承认错误——这是一个至关重要的要求，他后来告诉我。
“Cumulatively, [four] bites are serious, and each one was certainly serious to the person who got bit,” he says.
“累计起来，[四]次咬伤都是严重的，而且每一次对被咬伤的人来说肯定都是严重的，”他说。
Then he makes a point about animal behavior, something else he always stresses.
然后他提出了关于动物行为的观点，这是他一直强调的其他内容。
In each incident, Scooby bit only once, as if to say, “Keep away.” It’s a typical behavior when a dog feels threatened and is trying to send a message.
在每次事件中，史酷比只咬一次，仿佛在说：“别走开。”这是狗感到受到威胁并试图传递信息时的典型行为。
“But,” he acknowledges, “we can’t have dogs sending messages that way.”
“但是，”他承认，“我们不能让狗以这种方式发送信息。”
Next, he shifts the blame to the owners, Vineyard residents Peter and Nancy Stam.
接下来，他将责任归咎于业主、葡萄园居民彼得和南希·斯塔姆。
They’ve allowed Scooby to become too dominant, he argues, too ready to bite when startled or he thinks that he’s protecting them when people come near.
他认为，它们让史酷比变得过于强势，在受到惊吓时太容易咬人，或者当人们靠近时，他认为自己在保护它们。
He’s not evil, just over-reactive.
他并不邪恶，只是反应过度。
Cohen promises that the owners will make Scooby safe.
科恩承诺，主人们会保证史酷比的安全。
They’ve already acquired a muzzle, and never take him out in public without it.
他们已经给他配了一个口套，如果没有它的话，绝对不会带他去公共场合。
They never let him off-leash anymore.
他们再也没有放过他。
Most importantly, they’ve signed him up for two months of owner-and-dog classes with Rick Alto, a trainer in Brewster who formerly served with the Secret Service.
最重要的是，他们为他报名了为期两个月的主人与狗课程，师从布鲁斯特的训练师里克·阿尔托（Rick Alto），他曾在特勤局服役。
Once a week they’ll make the two-hour journey — by ferry and car — to Brewster, where Scooby will learn how to be less reactive.
每周一次，他们将乘坐渡轮和汽车进行两小时的旅程，前往布鲁斯特，史酷比将在那里学习如何减少反应。
“My mission is to make the Stams better owners tomorrow than they are today,” Cohen concludes.
“我的使命是让斯塔姆斯队明天成为比今天更好的老板，”科恩总结道。
“Through equipment changes and behavioral changes, [Scooby] won’t be able to do this again.”
“通过设备的改变和行为的改变，[史酷比]将无法再这样做了。”
The board seems impressed.
董事会似乎印象深刻。
As the meeting continues, the director of Chicken Alley says she never wants to see the dog in her store again.
随着会议的继续，鸡肉巷的主管说她再也不想在她的店里看到这只狗了。
Cohen agrees and takes it a step further: Scooby will never go into any store on the Vineyard again, except for grooming businesses and veterinary offices.
科恩对此表示同意，并更进一步：除了美容店和兽医办公室外，史酷比再也不会进入葡萄园里的任何商店。
Maciel says that two months of training won’t be enough.
马西尔说两个月的训练还不够。
Again, Cohen and his clients relent: They’ll commit to six months of training, and then meet again with the Select Board so members can assess the dog’s behavior.
科恩和他的客户再次做出了让步：他们将承诺进行六个月的训练，然后再次与精选委员会会面，以便成员评估狗的行为。
In the end, the board votes to declare Scooby a “nuisance dog” rather than a dangerous one.
最后，董事会投票宣布史酷比是一只“讨厌的狗”，而不是危险的狗。
“We’re lucky,” Cohen tells me after the hearing.
“我们很幸运，”科恩在听证会后告诉我。
“Four bites to four people?
“四个人咬四口？
In many other cities and towns that would have been a death sentence.”
在许多其他城镇，这无异于被判死刑。”
COHEN’S WORKSPACE IN SALEM looks like any other lawyer’s office — big wooden desk, oversized chair, legal books lining shelves — but with a few differences.
科恩在塞勒姆的工作空间看起来和其他律师办公室没什么两样——大木桌、超大椅子、书架上排列着法律书籍——但也有一些区别。
There’s a big picture frame on the wall with a collection of photos of past canine clients — Niko, Roxie, Stella, Bronson, Nietzsche, and of course Jesse.
墙上有一个大相框，上面有一系列过去的狗狗客户的照片——尼科、罗克西、斯特拉、布朗森、尼采，当然还有杰西。
“He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog,” reads a caption under the photos.
“他是你的朋友、你的伙伴、你的捍卫者、你的狗，”照片下的标题写道。
“You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion.”
“你值得他如此忠诚。”
There’s a small maple box on a shelf with a brass plaque: Jesse’s ashes.
架子上有一个枫木小盒子，上面有一块黄铜牌：杰西的骨灰。
Growing up in Revere, Cohen never wanted to be a lawyer but felt pressured by the example of his father, who he describes as a hard-working and successful attorney.
科恩在里维尔长大，从来没想过成为一名律师，但他父亲的榜样给他带来了压力，他形容父亲是一位勤奋而成功的律师。
He rebelled, slogging through Suffolk Law and spending the year after graduation working at Kelly’s Roast Beef.
他反叛了，艰难地通过了萨福克法，毕业后一年在凯利烤牛肉店工作。
His first law job felt uninspiring — working in the insurance department of General Electric.
他的第一份法律工作感觉平淡无奇——在通用电气的保险部门工作。
Later, he found himself running a firm focused on debt collection, but, finding the work to be dreary, he lost direction and confidence.
后来，他发现自己经营着一家专注于追债的公司，但发现工作枯燥乏味，他失去了方向和信心。
“I always wanted to make a difference, but I never saw a pathway to do that,” he says.
“我一直想做出改变，但我从未找到实现这一目标的途径，”他说。
But then he found Jesse’s case, and a luminous pathway opened before him.
但随后他发现了杰西的箱子，一条发光的道路在他面前打开了。
There were hundreds of cases out there like Jesse’s, maybe thousands, and he now felt qualified to defend them.
像杰西这样的案件有数百起，甚至数千起，他现在觉得有资格为它们辩护。
“And boy,” he recalls, “that just lit a fire and made me want to work, day and night.”
“天哪，”他回忆道，“这简直点燃了我的热情，让我想要日以继夜地工作。”
Cohen opens a spreadsheet on the computer monitor that dominates his desk.
科恩在办公桌上的电脑显示器上打开了一个电子表格。
It’s a list of every call he’s received since getting into the business — more than 5,000 in all, with about 20 percent of the callers becoming clients.
这是他进入这个行业以来接到的每一个电话的清单——总共超过 5,000 个，其中大约 20% 的来电者成为了客户。
Jesse, of course, was case number one.
杰西当然是第一个案例。
That’s when Cohen learned that a dog’s death sentence could be negotiated, as long as he took a reasonable position that protected the public as well as the dog.
就在那时，科恩了解到，只要他采取合理的立场，保护公众和狗，狗的死刑是可以通过谈判解决的。
Midnight was case number 14.
午夜是第 14 号病例。
The black, wolfish dog was ordered out of town by the Framingham Police Department after biting the chest of the boy next door who came over to pet him.
这只黑色的狼狗咬住了过来抚摸它的隔壁男孩的胸部，随后被弗雷明汉警察局勒令出城。
The owner feared the dog might eventually be sentenced to death.
主人担心这只狗最终可能会被判处死刑。
Cohen spoke with people in the neighborhood and consulted with an animal behaviorist.
科恩与附近的人们进行了交谈，并咨询了一位动物行为学家。
He learned that prior to the bite, the boy and his friends would throw rocks at Midnight on their way home from school.
他了解到，在被咬之前，男孩和他的朋友会在放学回家的路上向午夜扔石头。
“The dog remembers .
“狗记得。”
.
。
.
。
so she bit him,” he explained.
所以她咬了他，”他解释道。
Midnight was spared.
午夜幸免于难。
That was the first time Cohen had consulted a behaviorist to get the dog’s point of view.
这是科恩第一次咨询行为学家以了解狗的观点。
He thought, Whoa, this stuff works!
他想，哇，这东西有用！
Case number 2,096: Ollie, a 5-month-old labradoodle, was mauled in 2020 by other dogs at a doggy day care center.
案例编号 2,096：Ollie，一只 5 个月大的拉布拉多犬，2020 年在狗狗日托中心被其他狗咬伤。
That day, Amy Baxter rushed to Pampered Pets in East Longmeadow, where she had left Ollie less than two hours earlier, to find him bleeding from more than 100 puncture wounds.
那天，艾米·巴克斯特 (Amy Baxter) 赶到东朗梅多 (East Longmeadow) 的 Pampered Pets，不到两小时前她离开奥利，发现他身上有 100 多处刺伤，流着血。
She took him to the hospital, where he lingered for seven weeks before dying.
她把他带到医院，他在那里呆了七个星期才去世。
When Baxter asked how the business ever got a license, she learned that Massachusetts has no regulations regarding kennels or other boarding facilities.
当巴克斯特询问该企业如何获得许可证时，她得知马萨诸塞州没有关于狗舍或其他寄宿设施的规定。
A former government worker, she founded a coalition to spearhead a law requiring safety and performance standards for all pet-care facilities.
作为一名前政府工作人员，她成立了一个联盟，带头制定一项法律，要求所有宠物护理设施都制定安全和性能标准。
She recruited Cohen to be a member of the legal team.
她招募科恩成为法律团队的成员。
He took on the job, winning Baxter a settlement for her loss, helping to put Pampered Pets out of business, and bringing real-world data to the coalition’s effort.
他接手了这份工作，为巴克斯特的损失赢得了赔偿，帮助 Pampered Pets 破产，并为联盟的努力带来了真实世界的数据。
“I realized that I could operate on a bigger scale than my day-to-day lawsuits by bringing some weight to this type of movement,” Cohen says.
“我意识到，通过为此类运动增加一些影响力，我可以在比日常诉讼更大的范围内开展行动，”科恩说。
Their effort, “An Act to Increase Kennel Safety, aka Ollie’s Law,” is pending in the state Legislature.
他们的努力“提高犬舍安全法案，又名奥利法”正在州立法机关等待。
“Jeremy was invaluable in so many ways,” Baxter says.
“杰里米在很多方面都是无价的，”巴克斯特说。
“I think we kind of inspired each other.”
“我认为我们互相激励了对方。”
THERE’S A BLACK CRYSTAL ORB on a shelf in Cohen’s office, about the size of a tennis ball.
科恩办公室的架子上有一个黑色水晶球，大约有网球那么大。
It’s a gift from Lorelei, the “Love Witch” of Salem — a.k.a.
这是塞勒姆“爱情女巫”罗蕾莱（又名“爱情女巫”）的礼物。
Laurie Stathopoulos, owner of the city’s oldest witch shop, Crow Haven Corner.
劳里·斯塔索普洛斯 (Laurie Stathopoulos)，这座城市最古老的女巫商店“乌鸦天堂角”的老板。
She heads a group called Salem Saves Animals, in memory of the animals that were executed during the infamous Witch Trials.
她领导着一个名为“塞勒姆拯救动物”的组织，以纪念在臭名昭著的女巫审判中被处决的动物。
Last autumn, she contacted Cohen in the hopes he could save a pit bull named Buster Brown.
去年秋天，她联系了科恩，希望他能拯救一只名叫巴斯特·布朗的斗牛犬。
Buster was on a Martha’s Vineyard ferry last August, when he got loose and attacked Lady, a little white puffball, who died several days later.
去年八月，巴斯特在玛莎葡萄园岛的渡轮上，当时他逃脱并袭击了一只白色的小马勃女士，几天后女士就死了。
Having learned that the culprit lived in Salem, Lady’s owner persuaded the police chief to seek to euthanize Buster.
得知罪魁祸首住在塞勒姆后，女士的主人说服警察局长寻求对巴斯特实施安乐死。
That’s when his owner, a sometimes homeless man, asked Stathopoulos for help.
就在那时，他的主人（一个有时无家可归的人）向斯塔索普洛斯寻求帮助。
Stathopoulos knew Buster and the man from the streets.
斯塔索普洛斯认识巴斯特和那个街上的人。
She knew that while Buster had bitten other dogs, he never bothered people.
她知道巴斯特虽然咬过其他狗，但他从不打扰别人。
She also knew that the problem wasn’t Buster but his owner, who ignored instructions to muzzle the dog and keep him on a leash.
她还知道问题不在于巴斯特，而在于他的主人，他的主人无视给狗戴上口套并用皮带拴住的指示。
“The city was pretty much backed up against a wall,” she says.
“这座城市几乎是靠墙支撑的，”她说。
“I mean, here’s a dog that has bitten others a few times and now they have a tourist whose dog ends up dying.”
“我的意思是，这里有一只狗已经咬了别人几次，现在他们有一个游客，他的狗最终死了。”
She reached out to Cohen.
她向科恩伸出了手。
Months of legal arguments followed, to no avail.
随后数月的法律争论毫无结果。
In January, Cohen brought in James Crosby, a nationally recognized dog behavior expert, who accompanied Stathopoulos to the kennel where Buster was confined.
一月份，科恩请来了全国公认的狗行为专家詹姆斯·克罗斯比，他陪同斯塔索普洛斯来到了巴斯特被关押的狗舍。
Crosby watched Buster closely as he approached him, walked back and forth in front of the dog — slowly, then quickly — and came close enough for Buster to sniff him.
当巴斯特走近时，克罗斯比密切注视着他，在狗面前来回走动——慢慢地，然后很快——离得足够近，让巴斯特可以嗅到他的气味。
He made sudden moves to “ramp up” the dog and saw how long it took to ramp him back down.
他突然采取行动让狗“加速”，然后观察需要多长时间才能让它恢复正常。
“Eventually, I put hands on him, opened his mouth, messed with his feet, pulled on his tail.” Crosby found that even when he got Buster excited it was easy to settle him.
“最后，我把手放在他身上，张开他的嘴，弄乱他的脚，拉他的尾巴。”克罗斯比发现，即使他让巴斯特兴奋，也很容易安抚他。
His conclusion: “Buster was quite friendly — a little bit excitable, a little bit headstrong, but nothing that deserves to be declared dangerous.” All Buster needed was a responsible owner and consistent training.
他的结论是：“巴斯特非常友好——有点兴奋，有点任性，但没有什么值得被宣布为危险的。”巴斯特所需要的只是一个负责任的主人和持续的培训。
Cohen went back to the court, but just before the trial, he and the city came to an agreement: Buster could live, provided he move in with a responsible owner, stay muzzled and leashed whenever in public, and trained to be less reactive to small dogs.
科恩回到法庭，但就在审判前，他和市政府达成了一项协议：巴斯特可以活下去，前提是他搬到负责任的主人那里，在公共场合时保持口套和皮带，并接受训练以减少对小狗的反应。
He now resides with a new owner at an undisclosed location.
他现在与新主人住在一个秘密地点。
“My goodness, he was a life saver,” Stathopoulos says of Cohen.
“我的天哪，他是一个救星，”斯塔索普洛斯谈到科恩时说道。
She gave him the crystal ball and blessed it.
她给了他水晶球并祝福它。
If any creature in Salem gets in trouble, she says, “We know that he’s the guy who’s ready to help us.”
她说，如果塞勒姆的任何生物遇到麻烦，“我们知道他会随时帮助我们。”
YOU LOVE YOUR PET and may think it loves you — OK, you know it loves you — but in the eyes of the law, it’s just a piece of property, with no more intrinsic value than your TV.
您爱您的宠物，并且可能认为它爱您 - 好吧，您知道它爱您 - 但在法律眼中，它只是一件财产，没有比您的电视更多的内在价值。
It’s not quite the same as a TV, because abusing or neglecting your pet is a criminal offense.
它与电视不太一样，因为虐待或忽视你的宠物是刑事犯罪。
But in terms of civil law — say, suing someone whose Rottweiler mauled your Chihuahua in the dog park — well, in that case, your dog is just property .
但就民法而言——比如，起诉一个罗威纳犬在狗公园里殴打了你的吉娃娃的人——那么，在这种情况下，你的狗只是财产。
That’s a problem if you’re a pet owner suing for damages.
如果你是宠物主人并要求赔偿，这就是一个问题。
If your Chihuahua got killed by that Rottweiler, you’re limited to the market value of a replacement Chihuahua.
如果您的吉娃娃被罗威纳犬杀死，您将受到替换吉娃娃的市场价值的限制。
Some lawyers even argue that your Chihuahua depreciates as it grows older.
一些律师甚至认为你的吉娃娃会随着年龄的增长而贬值。
“You can’t crash a 1992 Honda and ask for a 2002 Honda to replace it,” an opponent of Cohen’s recently argued.
“你不能撞坏一辆 1992 款本田汽车，然后要求一辆 2002 款本田汽车来取代它，”科恩的一位反对者最近辩称。
Cohen argued back: “It’s not a question of the depreciated value of a replacement dog, but the value of this particular dog.” The bond between an owner and her pet can never be replaced.
科恩反驳道：“这不是替换狗的贬值问题，而是这只狗的价值问题。”主人和宠物之间的纽带是永远无法替代的。
What the court can do, however, is take a page from the insurance industry and itemize the costs his client incurred in creating that bond.
然而，法院可以做的是借鉴保险业的经验，逐项列出他的客户在建立该保证金时所产生的费用。
So, in that case, Cohen totaled up the costs of the dog’s first year with his client, including purchase price, vaccination, veterinary care, equipment, food, and obedience training.
因此，在这种情况下，科恩与他的客户合计了狗第一年的费用，包括购买价格、疫苗接种、兽医护理、设备、食物和服从训练。
It didn’t account for the dog’s pain and suffering, or the owner’s grief, but at more than $7,500 it was much higher than simple replacement cost.
它没有考虑到狗的痛苦和痛苦，也没有考虑到主人的悲伤，但超过 7,500 美元的价格比简单的重置成本要高得多。
He won.
他赢了。
Things get trickier in custody disputes.
监护权纠纷中事情变得更加棘手。
When a couple breaks up, who gets the dog?
情侣分手后，狗归谁？
Probate and family courts are typically maxed out with difficult and unpleasant matters involving children.
遗嘱认证法庭和家庭法庭通常因涉及儿童的困难和不愉快的事情而不堪重负。
They’d never want to add pets to the mix.
他们永远不想将宠物添加到其中。
It’s up to district and superior courts to decide who gets the property.
由地区法院和高级法院决定谁获得该财产。
That means dividing assets, which you can’t do with a dog, or having one partner buy out the other, something that most pet owners won’t agree to.
这意味着分割资产（这是你不能对一只狗做的），或者让一个合伙人买下另一个合伙人的股份，这是大多数宠物主人不会同意的。
For that reason, Cohen advises couples to settle.
因此，科恩建议夫妻和解。
One couple who couldn’t is a pair of Boston-area thirtysomethings named Brett Lyman and Sasha Lanser.
波士顿地区一对三十多岁的夫妇布雷特·莱曼 (Brett Lyman) 和萨莎·兰瑟 (Sasha Lanser) 却无法做到这一点。
For a few months after their breakup, they shared custody of Teddy, their black Pomeranian.
分手后的几个月里，他们共同抚养黑色博美犬泰迪。
They had been passing the dog back and forth fairly regularly until Lanser, believing it was best for the dog, refused to give Teddy back and broke off all communication.
他们经常来回传递这只狗，直到兰瑟认为这对狗最好，拒绝把泰迪还给他，并中断了所有的联系。
Lyman missed Teddy terribly, and after a year without the dog, he hired Cohen.
莱曼非常想念泰迪，在没有狗一年后，他雇用了科恩。
The case dragged on for more than two and a half years.
此案拖延了两年半多。
Cohen argued that although the dog was property in the eyes of the law, “It’s a special kind of property,” with a powerful bond to both owners.
科恩辩称，尽管从法律角度来看，这只狗是财产，但“它是一种特殊的财产”，与双方主人都有着强大的联系。
“Just because the relationship with each other ended doesn’t mean their relationships with Teddy should end.”
“彼此之间的关系结束并不意味着他们与泰迪的关系应该结束。”
Cohen argued that because each person’s bond with Teddy was unique, normal property settlements couldn’t work.
科恩认为，由于每个人与泰迪的联系都是独特的，因此正常的财产和解是行不通的。
The only fair solution was joint custody — although he steered clear of that term because “custody” refers specifically to children.
唯一公平的解决方案是共同监护——尽管他避开了这个词，因为“监护”特指儿童。
Any other arrangement would cause either party irreparable harm.
任何其他安排都会给任何一方造成不可挽回的伤害。
Finally in March, the Massachusetts Appellate Court decided in his favor.
最终在三月，马萨诸塞州上诉法院做出了对他有利的裁决。
Lyman and Lanser returned to their regular sharing of Teddy.
莱曼和兰瑟又恢复了和泰迪分享的习惯。
The case set a precedent.
该案开创了先例。
“This is huge,” says Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton, an attorney who practices pet law and mediation in New York and North Carolina.
“这是一个巨大的事件，”在纽约和北卡罗来纳州从事宠物法和调解工作的律师黛布拉·维·沃达·汉密尔顿 (Debra Vey Voda-Hamilton) 说。
“Before this case, no judge that I’ve been aware of required people to share a pet.” It’s now legal precedent in Massachusetts to recognize the uniqueness of a pet owner’s bond with his or her pet — a clear step forward as seeing pets as more than mere property.
“在这起案件之前，据我所知，没有哪个法官要求人们共用一只宠物。”现在，马萨诸塞州的法律先例承认宠物主人与其宠物之间的纽带的独特性，这是将宠物视为不仅仅是财产的明显进步。
It’s nice to set a precedent, but at what cost?
开创先例固然很好，但代价是什么？
Lyman told me he spent “tens of thousands of dollars” on the case.
莱曼告诉我，他在这个案子上花费了“数万美元”。
That’s something I could not get my head around.
这是我无法理解的事情。
All that expense for a little black puffball?
为了一个小黑马勃花这么多钱？
When I separately pressed Lyman and Lanser on the issue, they both gave similar responses: Teddy’s my best friend.
当我分别就这个问题向莱曼和兰瑟施压时，他们都给出了相似的回应：泰迪是我最好的朋友。
I owe it to Teddy.
我欠泰迪的。
He’s always there for me in good times and bad.
无论顺境还是逆境，他总是在我身边。
I still didn’t get it, and turned to Cohen for an explanation.
我还是不明白，于是向科恩寻求解释。
He talked about the 10,000-year bond between humans and canines and the debt we owe them for domestication.
他谈到了人类和犬类之间一万年的联系，以及我们对它们的驯化所欠的债。
I didn’t see how that applied to Sasha Lanser and Brett Lyman.
我不明白这如何适用于萨莎·兰瑟和布雷特·莱曼。
He talked about the human desire to nurture and how a little dog like Teddy was a perfect recipient.
他谈到了人类对养育的渴望，以及像泰迪这样的小狗如何成为完美的接受者。
He talked about the unconditional love you get from your dog (or, maybe, your cat).
他谈到了你从你的狗（或者也许是你的猫）那里得到的无条件的爱。
“They don’t judge you,” he said.
“他们不会评判你，”他说。
“We’re judged everywhere, but there’s no judging with pets.
“我们到处都会受到评判，但不会评判宠物。
"
”
Maybe that’s it, at least for Jeremy Cohen.
也许就是这样，至少对杰里米·科恩来说是这样。
He’s spent so many years feeling judged, by his father’s expectations and by other lawyers in court.
多年来，他一直感觉自己受到父亲的期望和法庭上其他律师的评判。
“I had zero confidence, and it wasn’t any fun.” But then Jesse came along, and hundreds of other cases that followed.
“我的信心为零，而且没有任何乐趣。”但后来杰西出现了，数百起其他案件也随之而来。
Now he’s taken seriously in court and other lawyers ask his advice.
现在他在法庭上受到认真对待，其他律师也向他寻求建议。
“I had such great dreams when I was younger, and I lost that for so many years.
“我年轻时曾有过如此伟大的梦想，但多年来我都失去了它。
And then I found my voice, and it amazes me every day.
然后我找到了自己的声音，它每天都令我惊讶。
Now I have confidence.
现在我有信心了。
And I think that when I die, I’ll have left a legacy,” he says.
我认为当我死后，我会留下一份遗产，”他说。
“I’ll know that I did something.”
“我会知道我做了某事。”
Douglas Starr, Professor Emeritus of Science Journalism at Boston University, often writes about science and the justice system.
道格拉斯·斯塔尔 (Douglas Starr) 是波士顿大学科学新闻学名誉教授，经常撰写有关科学和司法系统的文章。
Send comments to magazine@globe.com .
将评论发送至 magazine@globe.com 。
Correction: Due to reporting errors, an earlier version of this story included incorrect information about a dog-bite case in Framingham.
更正：由于报告错误，本报道的早期版本包含了有关弗雷明汉狗咬伤案件的错误信息。
The bite was to the boy’s chest, and police ordered the dog be relocated outside of town.
咬伤的是男孩的胸部，警方下令将狗转移到城外。
The Globe regrets the errors.
《环球报》对这些错误表示遗憾。