Judge Denies Separate Trials for Dog Owners

SAN FRANCISCO —  A judge refused to order separate trials for the lawyer couple accused in last year’s fatal dog mauling of Diane Whipple and left open the possibility that sex-related material could be introduced at their trial in Los Angeles.

“This is a classic case for a joint trial,” Judge James L. Warren said Tuesday in issuing his ruling.

Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, who had sought the separate trials, face charges of involuntary manslaughter and keeping a vicious dog. Knoller also is charged with second-degree murder in the Jan. 26, 2001, death of the college lacrosse coach.

Jury selection is to begin Jan. 24 in Los Angeles, where the case was moved because Warren feared a pool of impartial jurors could not be found in San Francisco.

Warren ruled that sex-related testimony would only be relevant and allowed at the trial if the prosecution can prove it was connected to the dogs’ behavior.

“If there is sex that is relevant in this case, either with dogs or humans, it would be scrutinized outside the presence of the media,” the judge said.

Attorneys for the couple had asked that sex-related material be omitted from their trial.

Prosecutor Jim Hammer said Knoller testified to a grand jury in March that Bane, the male dog responsible for the attack, “put his head in Miss Whipple’s crotch.”

Hammer said Monday that “any evidence, if it exists, regarding any inappropriate sexual conduct by the dogs” would be relevant at trial and should not be excluded.

Nedra Ruiz, Knoller’s lawyer, vehemently denied any evidence of inappropriate sexual activity between her client and the dogs. She said the only sex-related incident with the dogs, Bane and Hera, happened when the animals barged into Knoller and Noel’s bedroom while they were having sex.