The recent decision of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court allowing a comfort dog to be in a courtroom with a witness raises some concerns. Where is this heading?

The concern about the recent Supreme Court decision allowing witnesses and presumably defendants to have comfort dogs during trials was somewhat shocking and surprising. The only time this writer was aware of a dog ever being effective in a courtroom was the famous 1977 Philadelphia murder trial where the then-legendary criminal defense lawyer, Ben Johnson, put a dog on the witness stand and the jury acquitted based on the dog’s testimony. Only a legal genius could do that and Johnson clearly was. Unfortunately, about seven years later, he was suspended for a year and never returned to the practice of law, which was always a great loss to the legal profession.