Woman convicted in dog-mauling death is freed
January 2, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- A woman convicted of involuntary manslaughter along with her husband in the dog mauling death of a neighbor was released from prison after serving more than half of a four-year sentence.
Marjorie Knoller, 48, was released Thursday from Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, according to Yolanda Campo, an assistant in the warden's office.
Her husband, Robert Noel, 62, was released on parole in September. The two were convicted in March 2002 in the death of Diane Whipple, 33, who was attacked in the hallway of their San Francisco apartment building in 2001 by the couple's two mammoth presa canario dogs.
Knoller, a former defense attorney whose license to practice was suspended upon her conviction, was picked up by a friend and traveled to Ventura County in Southern California, where she will serve out her parole, KTVU-TV reported.
Her husband was paroled in September to Solano County, more than 300 miles north of Ventura County. The two were sent to different counties because they were co-defendants in the same case, said Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections.
Knoller and Noel were reviled in San Francisco after they made statements blaming Whipple for her own death, and their trial was moved to Los Angeles.
In addition to her manslaughter conviction, Knoller, who was handling the dogs when Whipple died, was also originally found guilty of second-degree murder. A judge tossed out that conviction, saying there was not enough evidence to support it.
Noel reduced his four-year sentence by working in prison and staying out of trouble, officials said. Heimerich said Knoller also got time off for good behavior but refused to work part of the time, delaying her release. Including her jail time in San Francisco, Knoller was incarcerated for 33 months.
Knoller and Noel will each remain on probation for three years and any violation of the terms of her release could send them back to prison, Heimerich said.
Like other felony parolees, Knoller and Noel are subject to unannounced visits by parole officers, and must not have contact with known felons, including each other, Heimerich said. Knoller is also not allowed to own or have access to dogs.
James Hammer, a deputy district attorney who prosecuted the two, said Whipple's former domestic partner, Sharon Smith, was upset that Knoller was being paroled early.
"The time she served seems disturbingly short in light of the jury's verdict, Marjorie Knoller's own extreme recklessness and the way in which Diane Whipple died," Hammer said.
Knoller and Noel are appealing their convictions. The state attorney general's office, meanwhile, is appealing the dismissal of Knoller's murder conviction.

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