Reality_Check©
2008-08-23 07:25:15 UTC
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/22/BAJC12GPD1.DTL&tsp=1
Murder conviction reinstated in fatal S.F. dog mauling
Bob Egelko,
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 22, 2008
(08-22) 16:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge reinstated a San Francisco
attorney's murder conviction Friday for her dog's fatal mauling of her
neighbor in an apartment building hallway in 2001 and ordered her
jailed immediately while she awaits a prison sentence of 15 years to
life.
Marjorie Knoller, 53, sat quietly in the courtroom while Superior
Court Judge Charlotte Woolard discounted her testimony at her 2002
trial and said Knoller had known her dog was potentially lethal when
she took the animal out of her apartment without a muzzle.
The 140-pound Presa Canario, Bane, bolted away from Knoller and
attacked Diane Whipple, 33, who bled to death from at least 77 wounds.
The dog's 100-pound mate, Hera, charged out of Knoller's apartment and
may have joined in the attack.
Knoller "knew her conduct endangered life" and thus was guilty of
murder, not merely manslaughter, Woolard said in rejecting a defense
request for a new trial. Prosecutors had appealed a decision by the
trial judge, who is now retired, to reduce the jury's second-degree
murder verdict to involuntary manslaughter.
Woolard scheduled sentencing for Sept. 22. Knoller had been sentenced
to four years for manslaughter and was paroled in January 2004, with
time off for good behavior. She has been living in Florida, where she
takes care of her elderly mother, her lawyer said.
The ruling brought smiles and tears from a group of Whipple's friends
in the courtroom. Her former partner, Sharon Smith, said afterward
that she was grateful for the decision, frustrated that it had taken
so long, and wanted Knoller "to be treated like any other criminal
who's committed murder."
Knoller's lawyer, Dennis Riordan, promised an extensive appeal in both
state and federal court. He said Woolard's ruling "stretched the
definition of murder" to reach a result "that may be popular, perhaps,
in San Francisco" but is on shaky legal ground.
Whipple, the women's lacrosse coach at St. Mary's College in Moraga,
was attacked in a sixth-floor hallway of the Pacific Heights apartment
building Jan. 26, 2001. Knoller had been walking Bane dog on the roof
of the building and had returned with him to the corridor when he
broke away and jumped at Whipple.
Woolard, at Friday's hearing, recounted descriptions by neighbors, who
heard Whipple's screams turn to whimpers before police found her
trying to crawl back to her apartment. Knoller emerged from her
apartment shortly afterward, bearing some scratches, and didn't ask
anyone about Whipple, the judge said, citing trial testimony.
A jury in Los Angeles, where the trial was moved because of extensive
publicity in the Bay Area, convicted Knoller of second-degree murder
in 2002. The panel found her then-husband and law partner, Robert
Noel, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for leaving the dogs with his
wife while knowing she couldn't control them. He was paroled in
September 2003.
Trial judge believed her
But Superior Court Judge James Warren reduced Knoller's conviction to
involuntary manslaughter, saying he believed her when she testified
she had no idea Bane might kill someone.
Knoller's case wound up back in Superior Court after the state Supreme
Court ruled last year that Warren had used the wrong legal standard in
reducing Knoller's conviction. The court said prosecutors seeking a
murder conviction in a mauling case don't have to prove the owner knew
the dog was likely to kill, only that the owner was aware the animal
was potentially lethal and exposed others to the danger.
The court returned the case to Superior Court to decide whether to
reinstate Knoller's murder conviction and 15-to-life sentence, or
order a new trial on the murder charge.
Warren willing to take case
Warren was willing to come out of retirement to handle the case, but
the court's presiding judge assigned it to Woolard - a decision that
Knoller's lawyer opposed and said he would raise in her appeal.
Riordan argued that Woolard was bound by Warren's finding that Knoller
hadn't known the dog could kill someone. That means she wasn't guilty
of murder even under the state Supreme Court's new standard, Riordan
said.
He noted that Warren had heard Knoller testify in person, while
Woolard was merely reviewing the written record.
Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix countered that the jury's murder
verdict was amply supported by evidence that Knoller had been warned
the dogs were dangerous, had seen them repeatedly attack and threaten
other dogs and people, and had taken no steps to protect Whipple.
Woolard agreed in a ruling that took her nearly a half hour to read
from the bench.
When Knoller and Noel took custody of the dogs in 2000 from prison
inmates at Pelican Bay, the judge said, a veterinarian warned them in
a letter that the animals were huge, untrained and "a liability in any
household."
Woolard cited trial testimony about 30 incidents in which one or both
Presa Canarios lunged at, chased or bit other dogs and people, with
one or both owners looking on and seemingly unable to control the
animals. She noted that Knoller had appeared on ABC-TV's "Good Morning
America" shortly after the fatal attack, accused witnesses of
fabricating, and suggested Whipple was to blame for her own death.
Despite Warren's conclusion that Knoller hadn't known Bane could kill,
Woolard said, the evidence showed that she had known that both dogs
"singularly or together were capable of killing a person and, if not
properly restrained, would kill a person."
Murder conviction reinstated in fatal S.F. dog mauling
Bob Egelko,
San Francisco Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, August 22, 2008
(08-22) 16:57 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A judge reinstated a San Francisco
attorney's murder conviction Friday for her dog's fatal mauling of her
neighbor in an apartment building hallway in 2001 and ordered her
jailed immediately while she awaits a prison sentence of 15 years to
life.
Marjorie Knoller, 53, sat quietly in the courtroom while Superior
Court Judge Charlotte Woolard discounted her testimony at her 2002
trial and said Knoller had known her dog was potentially lethal when
she took the animal out of her apartment without a muzzle.
The 140-pound Presa Canario, Bane, bolted away from Knoller and
attacked Diane Whipple, 33, who bled to death from at least 77 wounds.
The dog's 100-pound mate, Hera, charged out of Knoller's apartment and
may have joined in the attack.
Knoller "knew her conduct endangered life" and thus was guilty of
murder, not merely manslaughter, Woolard said in rejecting a defense
request for a new trial. Prosecutors had appealed a decision by the
trial judge, who is now retired, to reduce the jury's second-degree
murder verdict to involuntary manslaughter.
Woolard scheduled sentencing for Sept. 22. Knoller had been sentenced
to four years for manslaughter and was paroled in January 2004, with
time off for good behavior. She has been living in Florida, where she
takes care of her elderly mother, her lawyer said.
The ruling brought smiles and tears from a group of Whipple's friends
in the courtroom. Her former partner, Sharon Smith, said afterward
that she was grateful for the decision, frustrated that it had taken
so long, and wanted Knoller "to be treated like any other criminal
who's committed murder."
Knoller's lawyer, Dennis Riordan, promised an extensive appeal in both
state and federal court. He said Woolard's ruling "stretched the
definition of murder" to reach a result "that may be popular, perhaps,
in San Francisco" but is on shaky legal ground.
Whipple, the women's lacrosse coach at St. Mary's College in Moraga,
was attacked in a sixth-floor hallway of the Pacific Heights apartment
building Jan. 26, 2001. Knoller had been walking Bane dog on the roof
of the building and had returned with him to the corridor when he
broke away and jumped at Whipple.
Woolard, at Friday's hearing, recounted descriptions by neighbors, who
heard Whipple's screams turn to whimpers before police found her
trying to crawl back to her apartment. Knoller emerged from her
apartment shortly afterward, bearing some scratches, and didn't ask
anyone about Whipple, the judge said, citing trial testimony.
A jury in Los Angeles, where the trial was moved because of extensive
publicity in the Bay Area, convicted Knoller of second-degree murder
in 2002. The panel found her then-husband and law partner, Robert
Noel, guilty of involuntary manslaughter for leaving the dogs with his
wife while knowing she couldn't control them. He was paroled in
September 2003.
Trial judge believed her
But Superior Court Judge James Warren reduced Knoller's conviction to
involuntary manslaughter, saying he believed her when she testified
she had no idea Bane might kill someone.
Knoller's case wound up back in Superior Court after the state Supreme
Court ruled last year that Warren had used the wrong legal standard in
reducing Knoller's conviction. The court said prosecutors seeking a
murder conviction in a mauling case don't have to prove the owner knew
the dog was likely to kill, only that the owner was aware the animal
was potentially lethal and exposed others to the danger.
The court returned the case to Superior Court to decide whether to
reinstate Knoller's murder conviction and 15-to-life sentence, or
order a new trial on the murder charge.
Warren willing to take case
Warren was willing to come out of retirement to handle the case, but
the court's presiding judge assigned it to Woolard - a decision that
Knoller's lawyer opposed and said he would raise in her appeal.
Riordan argued that Woolard was bound by Warren's finding that Knoller
hadn't known the dog could kill someone. That means she wasn't guilty
of murder even under the state Supreme Court's new standard, Riordan
said.
He noted that Warren had heard Knoller testify in person, while
Woolard was merely reviewing the written record.
Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix countered that the jury's murder
verdict was amply supported by evidence that Knoller had been warned
the dogs were dangerous, had seen them repeatedly attack and threaten
other dogs and people, and had taken no steps to protect Whipple.
Woolard agreed in a ruling that took her nearly a half hour to read
from the bench.
When Knoller and Noel took custody of the dogs in 2000 from prison
inmates at Pelican Bay, the judge said, a veterinarian warned them in
a letter that the animals were huge, untrained and "a liability in any
household."
Woolard cited trial testimony about 30 incidents in which one or both
Presa Canarios lunged at, chased or bit other dogs and people, with
one or both owners looking on and seemingly unable to control the
animals. She noted that Knoller had appeared on ABC-TV's "Good Morning
America" shortly after the fatal attack, accused witnesses of
fabricating, and suggested Whipple was to blame for her own death.
Despite Warren's conclusion that Knoller hadn't known Bane could kill,
Woolard said, the evidence showed that she had known that both dogs
"singularly or together were capable of killing a person and, if not
properly restrained, would kill a person."