A Franklin County prosecutor’s notoriously aggressive dog attacked and injured a defense attorney on a street near a St. Albans courthouse on Monday.
Betsy Hibbitts confirmed to Seven Days that she was bitten by Moose, a mutt belonging to Diane Wheeler, a Franklin County deputy state’s attorney.
Wheeler lives with her elderly mother in Burlington’s New North End, where complaints about the animal first surfaced shortly after Wheeler adopted him in January 2023. Moose bit several pets and humans in the neighborhood, leading to court-ordered training for the pooch. He was eventually ordered to live with Wheeler’s sister. There’d been no reported attacks since September 2024.
Until Monday. Hibbitts said she was near the Franklin County Court when Moose lunged and bit part of her lip off. The injury will require plastic surgery, she said. A report of the attack was filed with the St. Albans Police Department.
When asked if she’s considering a lawsuit to cover her medical bills, Hibbitts said she was still weighing her options.
“Diane is a friend, but I am disappointed that she hasn’t taken care of this dog,” Hibbitts said in a text message.
Wheeler did not return a request for comment. Her boss, Franklin County State’s Attorney Bram Kranichfeld, declined to comment. The dog was not on courthouse property, where animals are not allowed.
Moose was ultimately declared a public nuisance in Burlington after he bit a man at Leddy Park in September 2024. Neighbors in the New North End had complained for more than a year about the dog and his propensity for violence. Wheeler was forced to surrender primary ownership of Moose in October of that year.
Wheeler had wrangled with the Burlington Animal Control Committee and the Vermont Superior Court over her ability to retain ownership of the pooch. He was required to attend a residential training program and then live in with Wheeler’s sister, Deborah Lessor, in a different New North End neighborhood.
In April 2025, the animal control committee ordered that Moose would remain in Lessor’s care and “under no circumstances be present at the Wheeler home” in the Roseade Parkway neighborhood.
Lessor did not return a request for comment. Assistant City Attorney Kimberlee Sturtevant said her office was “awaiting information and will evaluate options as it becomes available” regarding Moose’s most recent attack in Franklin County.
Llu Mulvaney-Stanak was among the Roseade Parkway neighbors who had complained about Moose’s bad behavior. On Thursday, Mulvaney-Stanak alleged that Wheeler has not been adhering to the animal control committee’s ruling.
“The dog was also never supposed to return to our street or their house for any reason, yet the dog has been spotted in the house and leaving the house in the car (by me) and others,” Mulvaney-Stanak said in an email.
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