Battle Over Frozen Dog Sperm Gives Judge Pause

Family Court Judge Cheryl Matthews is used to making tough decisions in custody matters, but she was temporarily stumped when a divorced couple showed up in her Michigan courtroom Wednesday morning asking 'who gets the dog sperm?'.

"I asked, 'Am I Being Punk'd?'," says Matthews. "I said, 'Is this a 'Candid Camera' thing?'"

But it was the real deal. You see, Karen Scully and her ex-husband, Anthony Scully, are feuding over who legitimately owns semen belonging to Cyrus, Regg and Romeo, all American Kennel Club � registered bullmastiffs � a dog like the canine star of the movie "Turner & Hooch." Such dogs can sell for as much as $2,000 each.

The Scullys were hobby breeders until their divorce in 2002. When they split up, they also split up the six bullmastiffs they owned: He kept four of them and she took two with her to Florida. At issue is who gets to claim frozen sperm stored at a freezing center since both still raise bullmastiffs.

Anthony says the semen is his, and his ex-wife, in moving to Florida, gave up claim. However, Karen, claims she has ownership, since the dogs that provided the semen once belonged to her.

"I;ve never had to make an argument quite like this," admits Anthony Scully's attorney, Ryan Mae Steele. "I had a genealogy tree, listing who had puppies, who provided the semen. It was a lot to take in. "

Matthews, an admitted dog lover, ruled it was not a divorce matter and told the couple they would have to fight it out in civil court.

 � Copyright 2004-2015 The News Vault. All rights reserved.