News
Criminal
Feb. 28, 2002
Neighbor Recounts Brutal Dog-Mauling Scene
LOS ANGELES - An elderly neighbor of a woman mauled to death by dogs told jurors Wednesday that the scene in the hallway of her San Francisco apartment building at the time of the killing was so chaotic that she barricaded herself in her unit.
Testifying in Los Angeles Superior Court in the trial of the dogs' owners, Esther Birkmaier said that she called 911 after hearing loud, persistent barking and a woman calling out, "Help me! Help me!"
Birkmaier told jurors she lived in the apartment across the hallway from the victim, 33-year-old Diane Whipple. Whipple was killed by two large dogs owned by San Francisco attorneys Robert Noel, 60, and Marjorie Knoller, 46. People v Knoller, 181813, (San Francisco Super. Ct., indicted March 2001).
Knoller and Noel each are charged with involuntary manslaughter and keeping mischievous dogs that killed a human being. Knoller, who was with the dogs when Whipple was killed, also is charged with second-degree murder.
The trial was moved to Los Angeles Superior Court because of extensive publicity in the Bay Area.
On Wednesday, Birkmaier was among three witnesses to testify, including a police officer and a paramedic.
Birkmaier said she was sitting in the quiet of her sixth floor apartment on Jan. 26, 2001, catching up on three days of newspaper reading when she heard dogs barking outside in the hallway. As the barking progressed toward her apartment from down the hallway, Birkmaier said, she heard the woman cry out for help.
"She sounded panic-stricken," Birkmaier said.
Under direct examination by San Francisco Assistant District Attorney James Hammer, Birkmaier described walking from her table to her front door to try to determine what the commotion was about.
Birkmaier was aware that the couple owned dogs, and she said they were respectful of her fear of the animals. She said the couple allowed her to take the elevator first whenever she would encounter the animals.
"I looked out the peephole and saw a body on the floor, with khaki pants and a white blouse, it appeared," Birkmaier said.
The slender form was lying with her head inside the threshold of the apartment across the hallway, the apartment Whipple shared with another woman, Birkmaier said.
"Did you see anything on top of the body lying in the threshold?" Hammer asked.
"I saw a dark shadow that looked like a dog," Birkmaier replied.
Whipple's mother, Kelly, wept quietly during Birkmaier's testimony.
After peering out the peephole, Birkmaier said, she went inside her apartment, panic-stricken, to call 911 for help, at which time she heard a "loud and shrill" voice that she identified as Knoller's, yelling, "No. No."
After speaking to the 911 dispatcher, Birkmaier said, she returned to her front door and heard banging "so hard and so loud" against her door that she pulled a security chain to help prevent the door from being kicked in. Birkmaier reasoned that placing the chain in the lock position would give her a few seconds to get to the bathroom if something broke her door in.
"As I approached the door, this got progressively louder until it was crashing against my door," Birkmaier said.
Peering again through the peephole, Birkmaier said, she could no longer see the victim lying in the hallway, just scattered groceries strewn about.
Birkmaier said she then heard Knoller yell, "No. No. Get off. Get off. Stop. Stop."
Whipple was killed while returning to her apartment after grocery shopping, according to authorities.
"Finally, the barking stopped, the growling stopped and there was silence," she said.
Defense attorney Nedra Ruiz appeared about to re-enact her dramatic opening statement stance when she crouched toward the floor, demonstrating how Knoller allegedly crouched over Whipple in an attempt to save the younger woman's life.
Ruiz repeatedly asked Birkmaier whether the "dark object" she saw lying across the victim could have been Knoller, not a dog.
But San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren brought her up short.
"Please get off the floor," Warren told Ruiz.
"Your Honor," she retorted, "these tragic events occurred on the floor. I'm not on the floor for pleasure."
"I sort of think it would help the decorum of the court if you could stay on two feet," Warren said.
Ruiz concluded her questioning while standing.
Birkmaier said that she initially thought the object lying atop Whipple was a dog but that she may have stated at one time that it could have been Knoller. Her perception had been influenced by a media account of Knoller's version of the incident, she said.
Knoller claims she was injured herself while trying to save Whipple's life.
In other testimony, Leslie Forrestal, the first San Francisco police officer on the bloody scene, testified that Whipple's body was "riddled" with wounds but that she was lying face down and was still alive.
As Forrestal identified wounds on graphic autopsy photographs, Whipple's mother left the courtroom.
"She was attempting to raise herself up off the floor," Forrestal said, her arms outstretched as she demonstrated Whipple's desperate attempt to get back to the safety of her apartment. "It was a very slow movement, labored, and she was attempting to crawl forward."
Forrestal said she told Whipple that an ambulance was on its way and advised her to try to be calm. Whipple's body then relaxed, and she became still, Forrestal said.
As the first officer on the scene, Forrestal said, her job was to keep the area safe for others who were coming to help as well as other residents who may have ventured into the scene.
Her partner was down the hall by the elevator and had seen a dog rush past her, Forrestal said.
After three or four minutes, Knoller opened her apartment door and walked out into the hallway, Forrestal said.
Forrestal said that, when she asked Knoller where the dogs were, Knoller answered, "Inside the apartment."
Forrestal said that when a team of tactical officers specially trained to handle stressful incidents arrived, she took Knoller aside for five or 10 minutes.
She noticed no injuries on Knoller but did see that one of the sleeves of the attorney's sweatshirt was torn between the wrist and elbow, Forrestal said.
Ruiz, in her opening statement, held up enlarged photographs of a bloodied Knoller and told jurors Knoller was injured in her attempt to save Whipple from the dogs.
"When you arrived, was Marjorie Knoller giving her first aid?" Hammer asked the officer.
"No," she answered.
Prosecutors allege that Knoller and Noel were involved with a white supremacist prison gang that allegedly raised vicious fighting dogs and should have known that the dogs were dangerous long before Whipple was killed.
Paramedic Paula Gamick testified that she responded to a call to tend to a second victim at the Pacific Avenue apartment complex. That - victim was Knoller.
Gamick said she examined a blood-covered Knoller inside her apartment but found only small gashes on one of Knoller's right thumb and index finger.
Knoller was not in shock, Gamick said, and all of her vital signs were in the normal range.
"I asked her, 'Are you OK,' intimating emotionally OK," Gamick said.
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Anne La Jeunesse
Daily Journal Staff Writer
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