Woman Sentenced in Breeding Case Linked to Killer Dog

A Lennox woman who raised puppies related to a mastiff that fatally mauled a San Francisco woman has averted a criminal trial by pleading no contest to breeding dogs without a license and other violations.

Prosecutors say Carolyn Murphy knows the owners of the dogs in the San Francisco case, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, and may have been part of an alleged dog breeding ring controlled from Pelican Bay State Prison.

Murphy, 52, who changed her not guilty plea in Los Angeles Superior Court on Monday, pleaded no contest to breeding dogs and running a kennel without a license, and having unlicensed animals under her control without providing rabies vaccinations for them.

Superior Court Judge Kenji Machida sentenced Murphy to three years probation and ordered her to pay more than $1,000 in fines. If she had been convicted, Murphy could have faced up to 18 months in jail.

Animal control officials ordered her to give away six of the dogs and get vaccinations and licenses for her other dogs.

Murphy is scheduled as a defense witness in the upcoming trial of the dog owners from San Francisco, which has been moved to Los Angeles because of publicity in the Bay Area.

Lacrosse coach Diane Whipple was attacked early last year by Bane, a Presa Canario-English mastiff mix, and a Presa Canario named Hera in the hall of her apartment building as she scrambled to unlock her door.

In August, Murphy ran advertisements in newspapers and on the Internet offering to sell seven of Bane’s descendants, pups with names such as Goliath, Scarface, Bonnie and Clyde.

After the ads ran, animal control officials went to Murphy’s home, where they discovered a suspected illegal breeding and kennel operation. Prosecutors investigated and filed charges against Murphy on Sept. 5.

“Here was this woman trying to profit from another woman’s death,” said Deputy Dist. Atty. Lisa Houle. “It was kind of sickening.”

Authorities said Murphy has a son who is an inmate at Pelican Bay with Knoller’s and Noel’s adopted son. In addition, photographs of Murphy and her dogs were found in the apartment where Knoller and Noel lived, prosecutors said.

Defense attorney Anton Plese said his client had a litter that she was trying to get rid of but was never breeding dogs.

“It’s politically motivated,” Plese said. “The only reason they are doing this is because of the tragic circumstances surrounding Ms. Whipple’s death.”

On Monday, Houle and Plese were scheduled to begin jury selection for Murphy’s trial at the Inglewood courthouse. But the previous weekend, Houle had called prosecutors and experts from the San Francisco case and discovered the alleged connection between Murphy and the San Francisco couple.

Murphy changed her not guilty plea after Houle told the court about what she had learned.