Berto, the facility dog who spent more than four years comforting crime victims and witnesses for Anderson County’s 7th Judicial District Attorney General’s Office, died following an illness on Wednesday. His death closes out a career that officials say helped secure hundreds of years of combined prison time for defendants and gave a voice to people who otherwise struggled to speak about what happened to them.
District Attorney General Dave Clark announced Berto’s death in a social media post, according to WVLT. Clark said Berto “made it possible for traumatized persons to participate in the criminal justice process” and offered “non-judgmental love and support to so many Anderson Countians in their darkest moments.” He added that his thoughts were with Berto’s handler, Katherine Sellers, and her family.
Sellers serves as the office’s victim witness coordinator and worked alongside Berto as his handler since the pair graduated from the Southeast Training Campus in Orlando, Florida, in October 2023, the outlet reports. Before that, Berto spent two years in training and preparation ahead of joining the office. Clark described the two as “a very close and special team in their work for others.”
A Legacy Measured in Convictions
Over his four-plus years of service, Clark said, defendants in cases Berto worked on received hundreds of years of combined prison time, and the dog’s presence helped make Anderson County safer from repeat offenders. The office credits Berto with working alongside witnesses and crime victims through some of the hardest moments of the legal process, per the same report.
One case highlighted by the station involved a child abuse victim who had not spoken about her trauma during multiple office visits until she met Berto. With his support, her testimony helped secure a conviction and a 120-year sentence for her abuser, according to the station’s account.
Clark also thanked Canine Companions, the organization that provided Berto to the office and financially supported his veterinary care during his illness, as well as the veterinary experts who treated him, the outlet notes.
Tennessee’s Expanding Courtroom Dog Programs
Berto’s work unfolded against a backdrop of growing legal recognition for facility dogs in Tennessee courtrooms. The Tennessee Legislature passed a law in April 2025 allowing judges to approve the use of facility dogs to support victims and witnesses during courtroom testimony, according to WBIR. When a court allows a facility dog on the witness stand during a proceeding in which a jury has been empaneled, the dog must be accompanied by a certified handler to and from the stand outside the jury’s presence, and the handler must remain in the courtroom within view of the stand during testimony, per the bill text filed with the Tennessee General Assembly.
The use of courtroom dogs isn’t new to Tennessee’s courts. A 2016 ruling from the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a trial court’s decision to let a facility dog comfort a witness.
Tennessee is far from alone in leaning on dogs like Berto. At least 16 states have enacted statutes explicitly permitting certified dogs to accompany victims and vulnerable witnesses in specified circumstances, and dozens of states now run programs involving hundreds of dogs that have assisted witnesses testifying in court, according to the American Bar Association.
For Anderson County, Berto’s death marks the loss of a partner that Clark and Sellers’ office leaned on repeatedly to help survivors find the words to describe their trauma. His years of quiet work behind courthouse doors, largely unseen by the public, are now being credited with reshaping outcomes in some of the county’s most difficult cases.
