Murder Charge In Dog Attack
Two attorneys whose dogs mauled a woman to death outside her apartment have been charged with the fatal attack, capping a bizarre day for the suspects.
Marjorie Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, were arrested Tuesday night at a home in Corning, about 170 miles northeast of San Francisco. They earlier had testified in front of the San Francisco grand jury that brought the indictment.
Knoller, 45, who was present at the time of the dog attack, was charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous dog that caused a person's death. Noel, 59, also was charged with involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous dog.
They were to be arraigned and returned to San Francisco within the next few days, District Attorney Terence Hallinan said.
The fatal January attack on Whipple shocked San Francisco, and that shock deepened as new details emerged about the dogs involved and the two lawyers who were caring for them.
The larger of the two dogs, a dangerous mix of English mastiff and Canary Island fighting dog, was put to death immediately after the attack. The second dog is being held as potential evidence in the case, although animal control officers say it, too, should eventually be killed because it is too dangerous.
Both dogs were eventually linked to two inmates at California's Pelican Bay State Prison, who were said to be running an illegal dog breeding ring from behind prison bars. Noel and Knoller served as the lawyers for one of the inmates, a 38-year-old member of the Aryan Brotherhood named Paul "Cornfed" Schneider, and it was later revealed that they had adopted him.
They were raised to fight other dogs and guard illegal drug labs, prison officials said.
Noel and Knoller, who shortly after the attack said that Whipple might have caused the attack by wearing pheromone-based scent, have disputed authorities' version of the attack and said they are being pilloried and defamed by the state Department of Corrections for standing up for prisoners' rights.
The case has also become a gay rights issue as Whipple's lesbian partner seeks to change state law in order to allow her the right to file a wrongful death suit in connection with the attack.
The second-degree murder charge carries a possible sentence of 15 years to life in prison, Hallinan said.
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