The couple charged in the fatal dog mauling of Diane Whipple were familiar figures in upscale San Francisco restaurants and shops, always with their dogs in tow, witnesses testified Wednesday.

Proprietors of restaurants in North Beach and the Union Street area remembered well-behaved, quiet dogs that sat at their owners' feet, under tables or tied to parking meters.

The defense offered jurors a virtual tour of San Francisco's famous eateries and stores, showing them photographs of defendants Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller posing for snapshots with Hera and Bane, their big presa canario dogs.

They stood in front of such familiar spots as City Lights bookstore and Enrico's Cafe, both in North Beach.

The proprietor of a restaurant called Left at Albuquerque on Union Street said he remembered the couple and their dogs.

"They were regulars. They could be there three to five times a week," said Michael Veachnau. "The dogs would sit under the table. ... I've seen many dogs. There was no difference."

The parade of witnesses included a private investigator who used to work for Knoller and Noel in their law business. Heshe Stark said the couple brought Hera to her North Beach home, where the dog did not react to her two cats.

"She sniffed our feet, drank some water, turned around in a circle and went to sleep," Stark said.

Also testifying was the owner of a kennel where the dogs spent six weeks after they were brought to the city from a farm and before the couple took them to their apartment.

Wanda Adams said the dogs were no trouble and she did not tell the owners to take any special precautions with them.

Jurors also heard from the proprietors of a market who remembered feeding scraps to the dogs while their owners shopped, and veterinarians who treated the animals for ailments and found them cooperative and gentle.

James O'Brien, who runs an animal transportation service, said he shipped the two dogs along with others from the same farm and had no problem with them.

"All those dogs were timid, placid-looking and shy," he said.

O'Brien, who has a long history in dog training and once headed the canine unit of the Burlingame Police Department, said he told Knoller when she contracted to ship the dogs that "We will not transport aggressive or mean dogs knowingly."

Hera and Bane killed Whipple, 33, a college lacrosse coach, on Jan. 26, 2001, as she tried to enter her apartment across the hallway from where Noel and Knoller live. The case was moved to Los Angeles because of pretrial publicity.

Knoller is charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and having a mischievous dog that killed a person. Her husband faces the latter two charges.

"Hera was a little bit shy. She was quiet," veterinarian Sheila Segurson testified.

But she added that she evaluated Hera's temperament to guard against being bitten.

"What I did conclude was she was a shy dog and a timid dog and somewhat fearful," she said.

"When I see a large dog that is shy and timid that can lead to aggression," Segurson added.

On cross-examination by Assistant District Attorney Jim Hammer, Segurson said that descriptions of Hera's behavior at home -- lunging and snarling at residents of the apartment building and biting one man -- indicated serious aggression.

"Does this sound like a serious warning sign," asked Hammer.

"Yes," said the witness.

Veterinary surgeon Andrew Sams, who operated on Bane for knee problems, was asked by the defense to evaluate Bane's temperament.

"I'm a surgeon, not a behaviorist," he said.

©2002 Associated Press

Witnesses say dogs were gentle, well behaved before they killed
LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Tuesday, March 5, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/03/05/state1904EST0151.DTL

(03-05) 16:04 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) -- The dogs that killed Diane Whipple were gentle and well behaved when they strolled the streets of San Francisco with their owners, stopping at a restaurant and a copy shop, witnesses testified in the dog mauling trial Tuesday.

The first five witnesses in the defense case were called to show that defendants Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel did not suspect that the two huge presa canario dogs would become killers.

"The dogs were normal. They didn't behave any differently than a normal, friendly dog did," said Allan Paul, owner of the San Francisco Brewing Co., where the couple often sat out front with their dogs beside them.

A waitress said she admired the dogs and sometimes fed one of them, Bane, treats from her hand.

"I thought she was beautiful," Antoinette Creyer said of the female dog, Hera. She said she told Noel the male dog, Bane, was "a good dog."

Christopher Monica, who worked at Mail Boxes Etc., said the couple often came in to copy legal documents and one of the dogs would sit at their feet.

"I pet the dog on a couple of occasions," he said.

On cross-examination, witnesses told assistant district attorney Jim Hammer that they never saw the dogs at the Pacific Heights apartment house where the couple lived. Tenants have testified the huge dogs terrorized them, lunging and snarling, and Hammer suggested the animals became more aggressive and protective in their home environment.

Hera and Bane killed Whipple, 33, a college lacrosse coach, on Jan. 26, 2001, as she tried to enter her apartment across the hallway from Noel and Knoller. The case was moved to Los Angeles because of pretrial publicity.

Knoller is charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and having a mischievous dog that killed a person. Her husband faces the latter two charges.

A friend of the dog owners, Bonnie Seats, told of once encountering the couple and Hera outside their apartment building. She said she went down on her knees and petted the dog, which licked her hand. She said her niece, who was seven months pregnant, did the same.

"She was a sweet dog," said Seats. "She was wagging her tail and loving the attention."

Dr. Stephanie Flowers, a San Carlos veterinarian, was the first defense witness, telling how she treated Hera on April 30, 2000, giving her rabies shots and removing a foxtail in her ear.

She said the dog gave her no problems, although she found that the animal was underweight and had a poor coat. The visit occurred about a month after the couple adopted the dog.

"I praised her for tolerating the procedure as well as she did," Flowers said.

Under defense questioning, Flowers described an animal who did not require sedation when others might have, and who did not bite or lunge at a technician who held her while a foreign object was removed from her ear.

On cross-examination, she was asked about reports that Hera and another dog had bitten a man at the apartment building where they lived and lunged at other people in the street.

When asked if the dogs' behavior in those situations would pose a danger to human life, Flowers said, "I would say it's clearly inappropriate and potentially dangerous behavior."

On Monday, jurors saw a gruesome display of pictures depicting many of the 77 wounds inflicted on Whipple's body during the attack.

Ruiz said outside court that her client, Knoller, does not feel responsible for the fatal dog attack.

"She couldn't foresee the time that this dog would go berserk and become the beast he did," Ruiz said.

"We don't know why Bane killed Ms. Whipple. He went crazy. ... Sometimes dogs act like the wild beasts, the wolves, they really are. He went berserk."

©2002 Associated Press  

Medical examiner details wounds to SF dog mauling victim
LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent
Monday, March 4, 2002
©2002 Associated Press

URL: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2002/03/04/state1353EST0142.DTL

(03-04) 13:36 PST LOS ANGELES (AP) --

One of the dogs that killed Diane Whipple attacked in the same way a wild animal would attack prey, seizing and crushing her larynx to asphyxiate her, a medical examiner testified Monday in the San Francisco mauling trial.

"It's not uncommon for a carnivore to go for the neck," Dr. Boyd Stephens said as jurors were shown an enlarged picture of Whipple's crushed larynx on a movie screen.

"A lion or a leopard -- they go for the throat," Stephens said by way of comparison.

"They're cutting off the air supply and they hold on until the animal asphyxiates."

Stephens, chief medical examiner for San Francisco, said all surfaces of Whipple's body except the soles of her feet and the top of her head were covered with wounds.

His testimony was accompanied by 35 enlarged photographs of wounds posted on display boards, and projections of each of 77 wounds on a large screen.

Whipple, 33, a college lacrosse coach, was attacked by her neighbors' two big presa canario dogs, Bane and Hera, in a hallway of their San Francisco apartment building on Jan. 26, 2001. She died later at a hospital.

The prosecution has sought to show that Marjorie Knoller, 46, and her husband, Robert Noel, knew the 100-pound-plus dogs were dangerous.

Knoller is accused of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and having a mischievous dog that killed a person. Noel is accused of the latter two charges. Their trial was moved to Los Angeles due to extensive publicity in San Francisco.

The role of each dog in the attack has remained unclear; a forensic dental expert last week matched neck wounds on the victim to Bane's teeth but could neither include nor exclude Hera as a biter.

Stephens said the damage to Whipple's larynx, combined with massive blood loss, made it unlikely that medical intervention could have saved her.

"The principle injuries were to the vessels of the neck and the larynx -- the external jugular and branch of the carotid artery," he said.

"These are very serious and fatal injuries," Stephens said.

Whipple lost more than a third of her blood, he said.

On cross-examination, defense attorney Nedra Ruiz tried to show that police were negligent in not immediately trying to stem the blood flow.

Stephens said he agreed that direct pressure to her wounds could have been of some help.

"If there had been something to stop bleeding early, it could have made a difference," he said. But he continually qualified those statements by saying it was unlikely Whipple would have survived.

"I couldn't say it wouldn't have helped but my opinion is her injuries are so severe that even early resuscitation would not have helped," he said.

Ruiz also sought to show that her client, Knoller, tried to protect Whipple with her own body.

Under questioning by the prosecution, Stephens said he could find no evidence that there was anything between Whipple and the dog when it was biting her.

"At the time the specific injuries occurred, there couldn't be anything between Ms. Whipple and the dog," he said.

Before the display of photos began, Superior Court Judge James Warren told the audience: "Ladies and gentlemen, these are very specific photographs. They are going to be shown and they are going to be very detailed. You may not want to be present."

Whipple's mother quickly left the courtroom and spectators continued to exit as the testimony became increasingly gruesome.

©2002 Associated Press  
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