Court to reconsider dog mauling verdict

Marjorie Knoller is shown in court in this file photo from Thursday, Jan. 31, 2002, at the Los Angeles Criminal Court building in Los Angeles. Knoller whose dogs fatally mauled a neighbor could get more prison time, after the California Supreme Court on Thursday, May 31, 2007, ordered a trial judge to consider convicting her of second-degree murder rather than involuntary manslaughter.the Presa Canario Dog, also know as the Canary Island Fighting Dog

By PAUL ELIAS, Associated Press WriterThu May 31, 11:27 PM ET

A woman whose dogs fatally mauled a neighbor could get more prison time, after the California Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a trial judge to consider convicting her of second-degree murder rather than involuntary manslaughter.

A jury had first found Marjorie Knoller guilty of second-degree murder in the 2001 death of 33-year-old Diane Whipple. However, the presiding judge ruled that Knoller wasn't aware her two leashed Presa Canario dogs, each weighing more than 100 pounds, would escape her control and kill Whipple. The judge lowered the conviction to involuntary manslaughter.

An appeals court later reinstated the second-degree murder conviction, saying Knoller should have known the dogs were at risk to cause "great bodily harm."

The state Supreme Court said the trial judge set too lenient a standard, while the appeals court set too harsh a standard. It said "the awareness of engaging in conduct that endangers the life of another — no more, and no less" is what's needed to obtain a second-degree murder conviction.

The case will be reassigned to a San Francisco judge because the presiding judge in the trial has retired.

The California Attorney General's office, which took over prosecution of the case in the appeals court, said it will ask that the second-degree murder conviction be reinstated.

"Her conduct was heinous and egregious and was one of the worst second-degree murders I have ever seen," said Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix. "We are very determined for the sake of the victims."

Knoller has served two years of her original four-year manslaughter sentence and faces an additional 15 years to life in prison if she is convicted of second-degree murder.

Knoller's attorney, Dennis Riordan, and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, who filed the initial charges, did not immediately return calls for comment.

The Supreme Court refused to hear the appeal of Knoller's husband, Robert Noel. Noel, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, wasn't at home during the grisly attack that tore all of Whipple's clothes from her body and left her with 73 different bites, including fatal injuries to the neck.

The couple — both of whom were attorneys at the time — said they were keeping the dogs in their apartment on behalf of a state prisoner. The two eventually adopted the prisoner as their son.