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CNN Live Sunday

Dog Mauling Trial Enters Third Week

Aired March 03, 2002 - 17:15   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The dog mauling trial in Los Angeles is about to enter its third week. The owners of the dogs that attacked a neighbor are charged with involuntary manslaughter. As CNN's Ann McDermott reports, the jury in this case is sorting through some gruesome and emotional testimony.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANN MCDERMOTT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There is no debate, one, may be both of these (UNINTELLIGIBLE) dogs did kill Diane Whipple in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building. But are the dog's owners, Marjorie Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, to blame? Whipple's long-time domestic partner says yes. Sharon Smith testified that the couple knew the animals were dangerous because they lunged at Whipple once before.

SHARON SMITH, VICTIM'S PARTNER: She told me that she had gotten bit. I asked her what she said, what she did. She said, I told him, "you need to control your dog." And I said, "what did he do in response?" She said nothing, he just stared at her.

MCDERMOTT: Defense attorney Nedra Ruiz questioned Smith in court. She noted that neither woman filed any sort of complaint about the incident, and then the attorney asked Smith, "Have you considered that if you had made a complaint, Ms. Whipple would be alive today?" There was an audible gasp in the courtroom. "Objection," said the prosecutors. "Sustained," said the judge.

SMITH: I was shocked. I was shocked by her question, and, frankly, deeply offended by it.

MCDERMOTT: But defense attorney Ruiz said her clients were not responsible for Whipple's death, which she described as a tragic accident.

NEDRA RUIZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It's our contention that Marjorie did everything she could, including putting her body between Diane Whipple and this berserk dog.

MCDERMOTT: But one of the dead woman's neighbors testified that Marjorie Knoller did not immediately call for help.

JIM HAMMER, PROSECUTOR: For two minutes after the attack began, she never heard Marjorie Knoller yell a thing. MCDERMOTT: Officers earlier testified that when they found Whipple, she was naked. The dogs apparently shredded her clothing during the attack, and the small bits and pieces that were recovered were shown to the jurors, as were plaster casts of the teeth that ripped into that clothing and into Whipple herself.

Ann McDermott, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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