Death Sentence for Dog in Fatal Attack Upheld

A state appeals court Thursday upheld the death sentence for one of two dogs who mauled a woman to death in her apartment hallway.

Diane Whipple died Jan. 26 after the attack. Her neighbors, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, were caring for the dogs at the time and maintained they were generally gentle, well-behaved pets.

A dog named Bane, the primary aggressor in the mauling, was destroyed immediately afterward.

The second dog, a 120-pound female Presa Canario named Hera, was declared “vicious and dangerous” in February by a police sergeant who ordered her destroyed.

Knoller and Noel face involuntary manslaughter charges in Whipple’s death. Knoller also faces a second-degree murder charge because she was in the hallway during the attack.