Court Reinstates Calif. Dog Mauling Ruling

[Conservativesux]

ABC News

Court Reinstates Calif. Dog Mauling Ruling

Court Reinstates San Francisco Dog Mauling Murder Conviction, Punishable by Up to Life in Prison

By DAVID KRAVETS Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO May 6, 2005 — A state appeals court on Thursday reinstated the second-degree murder conviction of an attorney whose giant dogs mauled and killed a neighbor in the hallway of a San Francisco apartment building.

The 1st District Court of Appeal reversed a ruling by a lower court judge who vacated the jury's finding against Marjorie Knoller and reduced her conviction to manslaughter. She was freed after serving two years of a four-year sentence, but the murder count is punishable by 15 years to life in prison.

Knoller and her husband, attorney Robert Noel, were convicted in the 2001 mauling death of Diane Whipple, 33, who was attacked outside her apartment by the couple's two 100-pound-plus presa canario dogs.

The appeals court said Superior Court Judge James Warren erroneously concluded that for Knoller to be guilty of murder, she would have had to have known that her dogs would kill.

The court ordered Warren to review the decision using a different standard that Knoller disregarded a known risk the dogs presented, including the viciousness of Bane, the dog mostly responsible for the death.

More:

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=733417&CMP=OTC-RSSFeeds0312

[Hekate]

1. Good. Let Knoller and Noel rot where they belong.

They were so devoted to their vicious killer dogs that they adopted a white supremacist prison inmate who bred them long-distance ... They terrorized Whipple and other tenants of their co-op... They seemed to take particular pleasure in frightening Whipple, a quite small woman who lived down the hall from them. I think she weighed almost as much as the dog that killed her.

Yeah. It was murder.

Hekate

[LostinVA]

2. Ant-gay tones to this, too

Alexis Whipple lived in the building with her partner, and Knoller and Noel knew they were gay -- they made snide remarks in letters.

I remember seeing a photo of the hallway where she was murdered (yes, murdered). It was a dead end hallway, with blood smeared and splashed all over it... she was bitten and mauled everywhere except for the soles of her feet. She was near death, blood pouring from her, and she still tried to crawl into her apartment, crawl to safety. This petite, athletic woman fought for her life, but never had a chance. It sickens me.....

[etherealtruth]

3. If I recall correctly they blamed ...

...the attack on the fact that that poor woman wore a scent containing pheromones ... Not even the human decency to be horrified by what had happened (only horrified they were charged!)

[DoctorMyEyes]

4. worse than that

They suggested that as an athlete she was likely taking illegal steroids. That the scent of the steroids in her body affected the dogs. Blaming the victim by making up a vicious lie based on no evidence.

[Zynx]

5. Not to be offensive - but a petite 100 pounder on steroids??

Somehow, I don't think so.

[LiberalFighter]

12. How the hell did they know the woman had the scent??

Unless they put it there

[Conservativesux]

9. That the defence tried to paint Miss Whipple as contributing to her demise

sickened me greatly.

A 250 lb man would not have been able to stop those dogs without a weapon, much less a small, unarmed woman.

I hope they rot in jail for a long time.

[Gyre]

7. I agree whole-heartedly

but you forgot to mention the very strong beastiality inferences that came out at trial. Margie Knoller + Kujo sitting in a tree..... I think Knoller should've also gotten charged with felony animal abuse for that; she is one butt-ugly specimen.

[radwriter0555]

6. Pit bulls and rottweilers should be banned permanently. France banned

pitbulls, and every other nation should too. Those presa canarios aren't a walk in the park either.

Those animals are a constant menace to society.

[Conservativesux]

8. I agree. At the very least, make owners aware that serious jail time is

mandatory if their attack dogs attacks anyone like this poor woman.

[CountAllVotes]

10. a friend of mine has a Rottweiler

and it is a very loving dog. But then again, it has not been trained to attack. Note that word: TRAINED.

Not all dogs of this sort attack people. I'm not a fan of pit bulls myself, but some people do like them a lot and keep them as loving pets. I think it depends on who owns the dog, how the dog is trained and treated.

:dem: :kick:

[burrowowl]

14. The Rotts

I knew in France and who played in the dog park with my German Shepherd qwere very gentle. It is the way dogs are treated and bred. When I came back to CONUS (Continental U$) with my French German Shepherd, I asked the neighbor next door if we could go walking the dogs together. The neighbor said no my dog is uncontrollable (a very large backyard-no -attention-paid-to mutt).
Hopi, my German Shepherd was called by the children in the French neighborhood: the Dog who loves children (at lunchbreak they played Hopi soccor with her and her big love Horus (a Rott).
Rotts were bred as the 'poor man's' horse, i.e., pulled merchandise wagons.

[MisterP]

17. don't tell my neighbor dog:

he comes over and threatens--to pee on us! And I'm the one who was scared of dogs--even little beagles--for over a decade 'coz my Mom never helped me out when dogs would chase me when I was 3 or 4.

[Princess Turandot]

18. At a minimum, dogs like these don't belong in crowded urban settings..

living in apartment buildings! I've read that Presa Canarios are used to hunt down wild boar, so these are heavy duty dogs. I can't imagine what being cooped up in an apartment did to their already souped-up aggression combined with owners who didn't seem to give a crap. The owners were both lawyers I think, so it isn't as if this could be written off as the actions of idiots.

The woman's partner's victim statement was just heart-breaking. I do recall that the judge, when he reduced the sentence, apologized to her and said that he felt obliged by law to reduce the sentence but did so unwillingly.

Did the husband even go to jail?

[depakid]

11. That should be reversed by the Cal Supreme Court

This is not a murder case- and the jury did misapply the law here.

It's in no one's interest to dilute the "intent" element of murder here just so that one woman can get what some think is her due.

[ecoalex]

13. She had sex too

with the dogs, He did too, fine legal beagles eh?

[burrowowl]

15. A woman I know

caught her husband having sex with there female collie. She realized why the dog didn't like him. She also found out he was doing stuff with their son and daughter.
However, he won custody (big 'respected' businessman in town and the kids perferred the 'toys' offered). She did get the dog.

[Conservativesux]

16. Those dogs were like loaded guns, waiting to go off. They did.

..And the people who knew this should be in jail for many years as a lesson to people who train these monster dogs to attack helpless humans.

As a person who was attacked by a Rottweiler while walking down a public street in broad daylight, I can attest that it's not a pleansant experience. I was fortunate enough to be able grab a stick and fight the lousy bastard off.

This poor woman was less fortunate.

[depakid]

19. True- but

that doesn't make murder.

manslaughter- yes- and a sentence for that is certainly due.

Lawyers have a saying "bad facts make bad law."

and this is just such a case.