I can’t say I’m just heartbroken that Marjorie Knoller is back in jail. Remember the San Francisco dog-mauling case where the dogs attacked and killed the lacrosse coach, Diane Whipple?
Knoller was convicted by the jury of second degree murder, but the judge reduced her conviction to involuntary manslaughter, saying he believed her when she testified she had no idea that her dog might kill someone. She was paroled in 2004, but then her case went back to Superior Court after the state Supreme Court ruled last year that the judge had used the wrong legal standard in reducing Knoller’s conviction.
From the article: Rather than requiring the prosecution to prove a dog owner knows the animal is likely to kill someone in order to get a murder conviction, the court said, it’s enough to show that the owner acted with conscious disregard for human life - that is, that the owner knew the animal was potentially lethal and exposed others to the danger.
Sounds right to me – in states that divide murder into degrees, this is almost always second degree murder – extreme recklessness/“depraved heart” murder/ extreme indifference to the value of human life/wanton & reckless disregard for human life.
She never seemed remorseful, either, and implied it was Whipple’s fault that she got killed…
As I recall, Knoller’s attorney said something to the effect that Knoller was being persecuted because the dog’s victim was a lesbian, and the District Attorney wanted to curry favor with the gay community in San Francisco by throwing the book at Knoller. What a crock. I’m glad Knoller is going back to jail. Too bad they can’t send her attorney, too.
Yes, that was ridiculous. Her attorney did do a horrible job of representing Knoller – she probably deserved sanctions at least. I can’t remember the details but she was pretty bad.
They were perros de presa - “mangrabber dogs” would be the most literal translation I can come up with.
I’m not particularly familiar with perros de presa canarios but anything whose name begins with presa is NOT a cuddly fido. The expression refers to any kind of dog whose main “job” is to grab and detain intruders (as opposed to, say, grab and maul intruders or point at rabbit holes).
