Woman convicted in dog-mauling death of coach denied parole
A former San Francisco attorney serving a life sentence in the dog-mauling death of a Saint Mary’s College lacrosse coach nearly two decades ago will remain in prison for at least another three years.
A California parole board denied Marjorie Knoller early release from the California Institute for Women in Corona, where she is serving a sentence of 15 years-to-life for the second-degree murder of 33-year-old Diane Whipple on Jan. 26, 2001.
Knoller’s two dogs, named Bane and Hera, attacked Whipple in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building while returning home with bags of groceries. Knoller saw the attack and did nothing.
The two Presa Canario’s bit Whipple 73 times, including in the throat. Knoller was convicted at a trial, then briefly was released from prison in 2004 when a judge reduced her murder conviction and reduced it to involuntary manslaughter. Another Marjorie Knoller, at her sentencing in 2002, was denied parole Friday and will remain incarcerated for at least another three years.
court later overturned that decision and reinstated the murder conviction and original sentence.
The parole board will decide on potential parole again for Knoller in 2022. This was her first parole hearing.
Her husband, Robert Noel, served four years for involuntary manslaughter. He was not home at the time of the attack. The Bay Area Reporter reported Noel died in June on his 77th birthday.