|
Guilty
verdict in mauling case
A LOS Angeles jury found Marjorie Knoller guilty of second-degree
murder and found both her and her husband, Robert Noel, guilty
of involuntary manslaughter and guilty of owning a ‘mischievous’
dog in the death of a neighbour who was fatally mauled by their
dogs.
Knoller faces 15 years to life in prison, and Noel faces up
to four years.
Murder charges are rare in dog mauling cases, but prosecutors
said the husband-and-wife lawyers knew their two powerful Presa
Canarios were dangerous. The prosecution brought in numerous
witnesses who said they had been terrorised by the dogs, Bane
and Hera.
The defence contended that Knoller, 46, and Noel, 60, could
not have known their animals would kill, and that Knoller tried
to save their neighbour, Diane Whipple, by throwing herself
between Whipple and the enraged Bane. They also disputed the
witnesses’ accounts of being menaced by the dogs.
Sensation
The
jury reached decisions on four of the counts by last week,
but the verdicts were sealed until the final charge was settled
a day later.
Her 60 year old husband was charged only with the latter two
counts since he wasn’t home at the time of the mauling
in the hall outside the couple’s apartment.
The case caused a sensation in San Francisco when Lacrosse
coach Whipple, 33, was killed by Bane on January 26th 2001
outside her door in exclusive the Pacific Heights area.
The case made legal history even before trial when Whipple’s
lesbian partner, Sharon Smith, claimed the same right as a
spouse to sue for damages. The Legislature enacted a law to
allow such lawsuits by gay partners.
The second-degree murder charge against Knoller was unusual,
since there had never been a conviction on that charge in
a dog mauling case in California. In fact, murder appears
to have been proven only twice in U.S. dog mauling cases.
Sabine Davidson of Milford, Kan., was convicted of second-degree
murder in 1997 after her three Rottweilers killed an 11-year-old
boy and was sentenced to 11 years in prison. Jeffrey Mann
of Cleveland was sentenced to 15 years to life in 1993 after
he knocked his wife unconscious and ordered his pit bull to
attack her.
Two years ago, James Chiavetta of San Bernardino County was
charged with second-degree murder but convicted instead of
involuntary manslaughter after his pit bull cross killed a
10-year-old boy. He had left the dog unleashed in the yard
with an open gate while he napped.
He was sentenced to four years in prison.
|
