When Dogs Kill, Who's Responsible?

Feb. 10, 2001 -- 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.

The law applies to dogs that are trained to "fight, attack or kill."

"That means the prosecutors would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that prior violent incidents were reported to the dog owners or that the dog owner was present when those incidents took place," Phillips said. "This is a law that has a lot of loopholes."

‘No Sign of Remorse’

Knoller and Noel say the behavior by their dogs was unprecedented and suggested in an interview with ABCNEWS that Whipple's perfume may have provoked the attack.

Whipple had just returned home from the grocery store when, authorities say, the dogs, each of whom outweighed her by at least 10 pounds, came charging toward her.

Knoller says she tried to shield Whipple from the dog with her own body, but Whipple moved out from under her, provoking even more aggression.

Sharon Smith, Whipple's domestic partner, has hired a lawyer and is said to be pressing prosecutors to file second-degree murder charges.

"There has been no sign of remorse" from Knoller and Noel, Smith said. "They have not said anything to me or my family. There has been no humanity here. There has been no genuine concern."

A relative or heir of Whipple's could also file a wrongful death lawsuit against Knoller and Noel, seeking damages in civil court.

"Anyway you look at this they are in a fair amount of trouble," said John Snyder, director of programs for companion animals at the Humane Society. "They are open wide open for civil charges and possibly for criminal charges."

Some Dogs as 'Dangerous as a Loaded Gun'

In one of the few murder convictions stemming from a dog attack, Jeffrey Mann, 36, of Cleveland was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison and fined $5,000 in 1993 for holding down his girlfriend, Angela Kaplan, 28, while his 70-pound pit bull terrier bit her more than 100 times.

"Some of these dogs that are bred to be aggressive — not trained or really socialized — are like weapons," says Snyder. "You would hold someone responsible for leaving a loaded gun lying around for a child to find. These dogs are the same. They are loaded guns. People have to responsible for them the way they would be with a weapon."

Each year, about 4 million dog bites are reported nationwide. Between 15 to 20 people — mostly children or the elderly — die from attacks each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Since 1986, Dr. Randy Lockwood, an animal behaviorist with the Humane Society, has recorded 10 dog attack cases involving successful manslaughter charges, and three in which the prosecution sought a second-degree murder conviction.

Lockwood, who has studied more than 300 fatal dog attacks during the past 20 years, says most states — at least 30 — now have stricter laws holding owners accountable for their dogs' actions.

"In the past 15 years many states have imposed stricter laws," said Lockwood. "The animals we see in most of these case, for the most part, are not being kept as household pets but are being kept as weapons. They are improperly raised and trained. In fact they are not trained, or socialized or loved at all."

In the first known involuntary manslaughter conviction resulting from a dog attack, Hayward Turnipseed of DeKalb County, Ga., was sentenced to five years in prison in 1987 after three of his pit bulls killed a 4-year-old boy.

Also in 1987, a 40-year-old former Santa Clara County maintenance worker, Michael Patrick Berry of Morgan Hill, was found guilty of manslaughter after his pit bull terrier mauled a 2-year-old boy to death. The child had wandered onto Berry's property. Lockwood, who testified as an expert witness in that trial, says Berry's case is most relevant to the one in San Francisco. It was also the first such case in California.

Prosecutors won by proving Berry had trained his dog, Willy, to attack and kill for dog fights. They successfully contended the animal was not likely to distingusih between another dog infringing on its territory and a child.