Diane Alexis Whipple (January 21, 1968-January 26, 2001) was killed by two Presa Canario dogs in San Francisco in January, 2001. The two owners of the dogs--Marjorie Knoller and her husband Robert Noel, both attorneys--were sentenced to prison terms for manslaughter (a second-degree murder charge against Knoller was dropped). Knoller, a small woman, failed to restrain her two large dogs when they attacked Whipple. Noel was not present at the time, but their convictions revolved around the accusation that they knew that their dogs were aggressive towards other people and did not take sufficient precautions with such large and dangerous animals; whether they had actually trained the dogs to attack and fight remained unclear. As of early 2004, both have been released from prison on parole and their convictions are under appeal.
The question of whether Whipple's female life partner could sue for damages caused many legal complications.
Before her fateful encounter with the dogs, the 33-year-old Whipple had been the lacrosse coach at Saint Mary's College of California in Moraga, California.
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