When Dogs Kill, Who's Responsible?
Feb. 10 -- Can the owners of the 130-pound dog that mauled a woman to death in her building's hallway be charged with murder?
The San Francisco district attorney is considering whether to charge Marjorie Knoller or her husband Robert Noel, both lawyers. Their dog, a presa Canario named Bane, pounced on lacrosse coach Diane Whipple on Jan. 26 in the hallway just outside her apartment.
Bane ripped through the woman's throat, while a second dog the couple owned tore at her clothes, authorities say. Whipple died of her injuries. Bane has been put down and the second dog, Hera, is in the custody of animal control officers.
Under California law, Knoller and Noel could face charges as severe as manslaughter or even second-degree murder. But prosecutors could have an uphill battle making either charge stick.
To prove manslaughter, the prosecution would have to show negligence on the part of the owners, while a murder charge would require evidence of malice, or "an abandoned and malignant heart," says Kenneth Phillips, a Los Angeles attorney who specializes in dog-bite cases.
In both instances the prosecution would have to prove Knoller and Noel knew their dogs were vicious enough to attack people and even encouraged the dogs to be violent.
'A Lot of Loopholes'
If the dogs only nipped and snapped at people, as some reports on them indicate, "it would be a tremendous jump to then prove manslaughter," says Phillips.
"There are 50 million dogs living in 30 million households in the United States and a lot of dogs nip at people. A conviction like that would mean that if your dog nips someone you would face a manslaughter charge if they later attacked and killed someone."
A separate California law, known as "Cody's Law" — after Cody Fox, an 11-year-old boy mauled by dogs in 1998 — allows prosecutors to bring felony charges against dog owners who knew or should have known their pets were dangerous.
The law provides for a fine of up to $10,000 and a prison sentence of two to four years. But again it would be hard to prove in this case, experts say.
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