Death by Dog

It was bound to happen eventually. An 88 year old woman from the next town south was killed by a pack of dogs.

http://www.waff.com/2019/03/01/woman-mauled-death-by-neighbors-six-dogs-tn/

After all of my trouble with the neighbor's dogs, I'm surprised that it didn't happen sooner or more often. After all, when I called, I was promptly ignored. Of course, I was also told to get a goat and just claim a livestock attack, but I tend to doubt that most people think in terms of setting up a situation that allows them to kill things and instead tend to rely on the law. I've learned that in Appalachia, that's a big mistake.
Apparently, the law had been out there numerous times on the dogs in question, but did nothing. Surprise, surprise. The county attorney is bringing criminal charges against the dog's owners, but my question is: Since they are the one tasked with maintaining the peace and have the responsibility and the ability to lay charges every time the law was called on the dogs, why didn't they? Aren't they therefore responsible for the death? Hopefully the family will find an attorney who sees things that way, but they'll need to leave the county to do so, and many Appalachians are afraid to do so.
It sounds like law enforcement and the county attorney were just letting things play out so they wouldn't lose any potential votes. Now that there has been a fatality, they're doing what they need to do to keep from losing more votes. Of course, a woman's dead, but what's a fatality compared to maintaining the social order of the hills.