In San Francisco on January 26, 2001 Diane Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach at Saint Mary's College was mauled to death outside of her apartment by one of the two large dogs that lived in the same apartment complex with her and her partner Sharon Smith. The one that attacked her was a 120-pound mastiff Canary Island dog mix, Bane. The other mastiff Hera had attacked her a couple of weeks earlier and bit her in the hand.
Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller are the husband and wife that own the two dogs they don't believe that they should be held responsible for the attack. They are presently under investigation to find out if they knew the animals had dangerous tendencies. They also could be looking at manslaughter or murder charges. This is because of the state law regarding dogs trained to fight, attack or kill or as the law classifies them "dangerous animals.".
In an article by CNN.com, Noel said that Knoller lost control of Bane and that Whipple did little to escape the attack. An 18-page statement was released earlier this week in it, he said his wife tried to get between the dog and Whipple; she suffered extensive injuries as a result. He stated his wife tried to force Whipple back into the apartment. Noel said Knoller tried to shield Whipple with her body to protect her from the dog, but said Whipple resisted help and punched his wife in the eye.
In the same article by CNN.com, Knoller contradicted her husbands" remarks in her statement to the police. She said, "Whipple instead tried "desperately" to enter the apartment to get away from the dog." but could not. "Each time the victim tried to move toward her apartment, the dog renewed its attack," the police statement reads.
Noel and Knoller, who are lawyers, are saying they didn't know that these dogs were mean. However, when they represented the two white supremacist inmates, Schneider and Bretches, they knew the dogs were being raised and sold for fighting contests and guarding methamphetamine labs.
