The one-year-old Labrador mix was seized, quarantined, and labeled "potentially dangerous" after two goats were found mauled to death in January.
"Lissa did escape, broke her tether," said Marilyn Kille, Lissa's owner.
Kille was in Orange County courtroom Tuesday facing misdemeanor charges of failing to properly confine the dog. She admitted the dog got loose but denies the dog is a goat killer.
"The owner of the goats and the vets and I never found blood or tissue in Lissa's mouth or anywhere near her body," said Kille.
The case has drawn in dog lovers from around the country. Hundreds signed online petition urging Orange County to "Save Lissa"
"It's always emotional," said Bob Marotta, who runs the Orange County Animal Services. "The evidence is overwhelming to anyone who has reviewed this."
The case isn't all circumstantial. The goats' owner put Lissa at the scene of the crime.
"Her dog got in there and was still in there the next morning and still attacking the goat," said John McNeal, the goats' owner. "I had to pull it off the goat and get it out of the pen. There's no question this is the dog that did this."
Marotta said they would only euthanize Lissa as a last resort. They hope to send her to a rehabilitation facility.
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