In San Francisco a woman has had her original convinction for murder reinstated following a death caused by one of her dogs.

Marjorie Knoller, 53, sat quietly in the courtroom while Superior Court Judge Charlotte Woolard discounted her testimony at her 2002 trial and said Knoller had known her dog was potentially lethal when she took the animal out of her apartment without a muzzle.

The 140-pound Presa Canario, Bane, bolted away from Knoller and attacked Diane Whipple, 33, who bled to death from at least 77 wounds. The dog’s 100-pound mate, Hera, charged out of Knoller’s apartment and may have joined in the attack.

Trial judge believed her

But Superior Court Judge James Warren reduced Knoller’s conviction to involuntary manslaughter, saying he believed her when she testified she had no idea Bane might kill someone.

Knoller’s case wound up back in Superior Court after the state Supreme Court ruled last year that Warren had used the wrong legal standard in reducing Knoller’s conviction. The court said prosecutors seeking a murder conviction in a mauling case don’t have to prove the owner knew the dog was likely to kill

Despite Warren’s conclusion that Knoller hadn’t known Bane could kill, Woolard said, the evidence showed that she had known that both dogs “singularly or together were capable of killing a person and, if not properly restrained, would kill a person.”

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