[url]http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/17/MN2220.DTL[/url]

[b]Murder rap tossed
New trial on murder conviction for Knoller in S.F. dog-mauling case -- pair's manslaughter convictions stand[/b]

A San Francisco judge threw out the second-degree murder conviction today against Marjorie Knoller in the fatal dog-mauling of her neighbor.

Knoller, who now faces a four-year maximum term for involuntary manslaughter, will be sentenced on July 15.

Superior Court Judge James Warren also sentenced Knoller's husband, Robert Noel, to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, after denying the couple's request that they be given a new trial on that charge in the death of their neighbor Diane Whipple.

Warren told the couple that they were "the most despised couple in this city," for the attack by their Presa Canario dogs that killed Whipple Jan. 26, 2001, and for their insinuation that Whipple was partly to blame.

More...[url]http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/06/17/MN2220.DTL[/url]

Guess this means someone acted improperly after all.  Clearly outside the scope of the law.  Whether it be the jurors, SF DA, or both.

Remember future potential jurors, base the judgment on facts and not emotion.

Yep, when the verdicts came out I was shocked and felt that they were terribly wrong despite the fact that the two defendants are among the most vile,despicable scumbags I have ever heard of. Maybe I'm just an optimist but I feel that educated people should know better than to go through life and act in the way that they chose to.

Justice should be blind.