Dogs Pounced on Victim’s Throat, Official Testifies

Dog-mauling victim Diane Whipple was killed in the same way a lion pounces on its prey, suffering bruises and cuts everywhere except for the soles of her feet and the top of her head, a chief medical examiner testified Monday.

The most severe wounds were to Whipple’s neck, where her jugular vein was severed and her larynx was punctured, Dr. Boyd Stephens told jurors in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

“It is not uncommon for a carnivore to go for the neck,” said Stephens, chief medical examiner in San Francisco. “Many carnivores kill by asphyxiating the animal ... by crushing the larynx and cutting off the air supply.”

Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach, died Jan. 26, 2001, after being attacked by two Presa Canario dogs in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment complex.

The dogs’ owners, Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel, are on trial for involuntary manslaughter in connection with their neighbor’s death. Knoller, who was in the hallway at the time of the attack, also faces a second-degree murder charge.

The case was moved to Los Angeles because of publicity in the Bay Area.

Prosecutors, who finished presenting their witnesses Monday, maintain that the defendants knew their dogs were dangerous and did nothing to prevent Whipple’s death. Defense attorneys, who will begin to present their case today, counter that Knoller tried to protect Whipple by shielding her with her body, and that Noel isn’t to blame because he wasn’t present during the attack.

During his testimony, Stephens showed jurors where the dogs had bitten or clawed Whipple by pointing to more than 30 detailed autopsy photographs, which were enlarged on a screen. “These injuries cover just about every part of her body,” Stephens said.

Whipple’s mother, Penny Whipple-Kelly, left the courtroom when prosecutors started displaying the graphic photographs.

Stephens testified that Whipple was injured in 77 areas of her body. He identified several dog bite marks, and said they matched the teeth of one of the two dogs that mauled Whipple.

Whipple, who was in excellent health before the attack, died from asphyxiation and blood loss, he said.

During cross examination, defense attorney Nedra Ruiz asked Stephens if earlier medical response could have saved Whipple. Stephens said that it could have made a difference, but that she still probably would have died because she lost one-third of her blood.

In response to Ruiz’s questioning, Stephens also said it was possible that Knoller could have been covering one part of Whipple’s body while the dogs were biting another.

But he also stated: “At the time that the specific injuries occurred, there couldn’t be anything between Ms. Whipple and the dog.”

Assistant Dist. Atty. Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom said outside the courtroom that the evidence does not support Knoller’s story that she tried to save Whipple. “Why does [Knoller] have just two small insignificant injuries and Diane Whipple has 77?” she said.