Murderer gets $7,500 from prison dog bite

Vince Doan(Photo: Provided)CINCINNATI — Vince Doan is notorious in southwest Ohio for the disappearance and death of his ex-girlfriend, Carrie Culberson, whose body never was found.Now, taxpayers are paying prisoner Doan $7,500.Why? Because Doan was participating in a prison dog program in 2013 when he was attacked and bitten by the dog, losing a large chunk of his nose and having a tear ripped into his cheek."The injuries have resulted in permanent disfigurement to (Doan's) face as well as scarring and nerve damage to his gums and fingers," court documents in the case note.Doan sued the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction for more than $25,000 and was set to go to trial three months ago. Settlement negotiations, though, delayed the trial. In a Wednesday filing, a settlement agreement was approved by the Ohio Court of Claims awarding Doan $7,500 in exchange for dismissing the suit."His injuries were very severe," Doan's Troy attorney, Jose Lopez, said Thursday. "Obviously, because he was a prisoner, there are no medical bills." Taxpayers pay for medical care for prisoners.Doan, 42, is serving a life sentence in the Madison Correctional Institute following his 1997 conviction for murder and kidnapping in Clinton County. Culberson, 22, disappeared in 1996. Her body hasn't been found.Because Doan is in prison, it's uncertain what he will do with the money. "That's a very good question I don't have the answer to," Lopez said.Doan was working in the Ohio prison program to train dogs for pet therapy and as service dogs for the handicapped. The dog — Lopez believes it was a German Shepherd — was part of an exercise when Doan was attacked, an act that caused Doan "serious physical injuries, scarring, pain and suffering, severe emotional distress, loss of enjoyment of life and has incurred medical expenses and other consequential monetary damages," the suit alleged.The real issue, Lopez said, was the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction knew the dog Doan was training had a history of bad behavior."We found out the dog had a previous owner and it was given back because it had a propensity for biting," Lopez said.Doan's half-brother, Tracey Baker, also was convicted of tampering with evidence and obstruction of justice in 1998 in covering up the death of Culberson. He was released from prison in 2005.Harrison Ford's plane had engine failure before crashMar 06, 2015