Knoller sentencing in San Francisco dog mauling draws strong reaction
By Ed Walsh
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``That really set me back on my heels," an angry Michael Cardoza told Bay Windows. ``I thought he was really overreaching and the hyperbole escaped me. I don't think he understands second-degree murder. I don't know how many murder trials he's tried. He may have gotten in over his head."
On July 15, Warren sentenced Knoller to the maximum term of four years in state prison for involuntary manslaughter. Warren shocked courtroom observers last month when he threw out Knoller's second-degree murder conviction.
``This is such a high publicity case and I'm worried what jurors and potential jurors will think," Cardoza said. ``Do all judges do this? Do they all take this away? I think that he has created a monster here."
Warren addressed the criticism over his controversial decision at the start of the sentencing hearing. Specifically, Warren addressed comments by Assistant District Attorney Jim Hammer that he ``destroyed a sense of justice in San Francisco."
``A sense of justice is precisely what this court will never become involved in creating," said Warren. ``A sense of justice is personal. It is infected with bias, prejudice, public opinion, public feeling, everything the court should not be involved in. A sense of justice was achieved by vigilante posses. A sense of justice I would suggest was achieved by Ku Klux Klan members. And I dare say a sense of justice was achieved by people who flew airplanes into buildings not so long ago. That is not justice. That is not justice, in fact. It is a sense of justice that is personal and it is precisely that which this court will seek to avoid. We will administer justice in fact in this case without regard to whether anyone feels that a sense of justice on a personal level has been achieved."
Hammer later responded to Warren when he got a chance to speak: ``I was honest with you to your face about my reaction and I didn't mean it personally and I hope you didn't take it personally."
``No I did not," Warren responded.
Hammer later told Warren: ``I agree with you about the excesses of vigilante justice and the idea you should give into a mob and I never suggested that."
Warren also addressed the criticism that he passed up ample opportunities to throw out the second-degree murder charge before, during, and immediately after the verdict.
``I wish I were a superhuman judge but I am not," Warren said. ``I do not have every one of the 60 or 70 thousand cases dealing with second-degree murder at the tip of my tongue or at the tip of my hand. In going through each of these cases, the context and the contour of the legal landscape changed. It does no good to go back today and say, `Gee, if you knew everything you knew today would you have done something different then?'
``The answer is it doesn't matter. At the time the rulings were made, given what was at hand at that time, the court is convinced the rulings were correct. And I adhere to them."
In response, Cardoza told Bay Windows: ``The legal landscape has not changed. The legal landscape is exactly the same. He may be perceiving it differently but that scares me. I don't know what the damn epiphany was from the end of the trial till now other than him. He's putting out that he's the big hero here. No, he's not the big hero. Not at all, he's quite the opposite. He should have [thrown out the second-degree murder charge] way back when. It should have been done after the people's case, or after the defense's case. Whether you agree or disagree with what he did, put that aside, his timing was very inappropriate because nothing changed since the end of the trial. He clearly stated during the trial that there's enough evidence for a second. So what's changed? Nothing changed.
``This was not vigilantism. It was based on the facts that he allowed to be brought in the trial.
``That's where I absolutely short circuited with him. I lost an awful lot today. I was just more infuriated with him today because of those type of comments. A sense of justice? `I'm going to take it away because it's vigilantism?' Spare me that. Spare me. That is absolutely not true. You allowed the evidence in, and now you're backpedaling. Why? What's going on?
``And I am not pleased about the judge's sense of judgment and the analogy to 9-11 and the KKK. I found that quite offensive," an impassioned Cardoza added.
The most dramatic moment came during the hearing when Hammer, with his voice choking with emotion, suggested that Knoller stand up and apologize.
``Diane Whipple is not here today because of exactly what she did," the prosecutor said. ``And we don't do our jobs well unless we give voice to people like Diane Whipple who aren't here.
``One thing I know that would bring some peace to everybody that knew Diane is that if this woman here, this lawyer, who lied at least 52 times, who mocked Diane Whipple, and blamed her for her own death, would stand up as a human being and say I'm sorry,"
Knoller scribbled a note to her lawyer, but sat silently.
Smith commented to reporters on Knoller's silence outside court: ``I think it's very telling of her to sit there and not to say anything and yet to have her attorney get up and make another excuse for her to not to be sorry.
``She has been an attorney from day one. She has not acted like a human, like one of us, hopefully, would do. And she'll be an attorney to the end. She's not going to say she's sorry because she doesn't want to admit [her guilt] and I think she probably doesn't want to believe she's responsible for this."
When asked to comment on Warren's statements, Smith said, ``I think part of what Judge Warren said is right. Justice has to come from within but he did steal justice from me when taking away the murder, absolutely."
Smith was surrounded in the courtroom by supporters including Cardoza, the executive director of the National Center for Lesbian Rights; Kate Kendell, Smith's sister; Janet Batchelder, Whipple's former coworker, Sarah Miller, and Terry Alvey of the Friends of Diane organization. Smith, her supporters, and Hammer, all wiped away tears in the final moments of the hearing.
After the hearing, Knoller was immediately transferred to the Valley State Prison for Women in Chowchilla, about 150 miles southeast of San Francisco, where she will undergo processing for 30 to60 days. Knoller will serve the remainder of her term either there or at one of four other women's prisons in California, according to a California Department of Corrections spokesperson. With credit for time served and good behavior, she's expected to be released on parole in 14 months, around the same time as her husband, Robert Noel.
Noel was sentenced in June to the same 4-year term for involuntary manslaughter. Unlike his wife, Noel was never charged with second-degree murder because he wasn't with the dogs during the Jan. 26, 2001, hallway attack on Whipple, his neighbor.
The couple still face a civil wrongful-death lawsuit brought by Smith and Whipple's mother, Pamela Whipple-Kelly. Cardoza said he is eager to do battle in civil court.
``Let's just go for it because justice was not done, let's go for it in the civil court," he said.
Prosecutors have filed an appeal with the California Court of Appeals challenging Warren's decision that threw out the second-degree conviction but they conceded the appeal has little chance of succeeding.
The trial was held in Los Angeles because of the pretrial publicity in San Francisco. The Los Angeles jurors who decided the case considered making the trek to San Francisco to attend the July 15 hearing in a defiant protest against Warren for vacating their verdict but the group never materialized.