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SAN FRANCISCO — The attorneys whose dogs killed a 33-year-old woman at her front door have adopted the prison inmate who ran a scheme in which vicious canines, including those two dogs, were bred and trained to guard methamphetamine labs. 

Attorneys Robert Noel and his wife Marjorie Knoller were issued a decree of adoption in San Francisco Superior Court Monday and are now recognized as the parents of Paul John Schneider, nicknamed “Cornfed,” an inmate at Pelican Bay State Prison. 

“The adoption will be in the best interest of the parties and in the public interest,” the decree read in part. 

Schneider, 38, and another inmate Dale Bretches, 44, are both active members of the Aryan Brotherhood and ran a fighting-dog ring which included two Mastiff-Canary Island dog mixes that the attorneys sued to gain custody of, according to Russ Heimerich of the California Department of Corrections. 

On Friday, one of those two dogs, a 120-pound 3-year-old named Bane, latched on to Diane Whipple’s neck as she attempted to enter her Pacific Heights apartment and killed her. Animal control officers used tranquilizers on the dog to remove him from the hallway. He was taken to a kennel where he was later put down. 

Hera, Noel’s other dog who reportedly bit at Whipple’s clothes while Bane killed her, was in the custody of the city Tuesday. A hearing was set for Feb. 13 to determine whether she too would be put down or could be given back to her owners, who have requested her return. 

“They do want the dog Hera,” said Carl Friedman, director of San Francisco Animal Care and Control. He said the couple brought Hera a bed Monday evening. Four people have inquired about adopting Hera and Freidman said his department has received between 50 and 100 calls a day from the public weighing in on her fate. 

Hera’s demeanor while in custody was described as nervous and the workers have had limited contact with her. 

Whipple was a popular varsity lacrosse coach at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. She was a two-time first team All-American lacrosse player at Penn State and was named NCAA national player of the year in 1990. 

Russ Heimerich, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections, said inmates Schneider and Bretches were at the center of a business that bred and trained fighting dogs to guard criminal enterprises such as methamphetamine labs. 

“They were indeed running a dog fighting business out of Pelican Bay,” Heimerich said Tuesday. “The two dogs that were involved in that attack (in San Francisco) were involved in that fighting ring.” 

Noel and Knoller have both visited Schneider and Bretches at Pelican Bay, state records showed. 

“The two attorneys representing these guys ended up with these dogs,” Heimerich said. “Our information was that (Schneider and Bretches) were using third parties and attorneys” to run their dog business. 

“It was a breeding scheme,” Heimerich said. 

A California Department of Corrections investigation into the fighting-dog ring concluded that the inmates were behind the scheme, but found no wrongdoing on the part of Noel or Knoller. The investigation was concluded months ago. 

Noel sued to gain custody of Bane and Hera from Janet Coumbs of Hayfork who was raising the dogs for the inmates. He acquired custody of Bane and Hera three months ago. 

Coumbs told the San Francisco Chronicle that the dogs were hard to handle. 

“They ate all my sheep, all my chickens and my house cat,” Coumbs said. “No matter what I did, they killed. I couldn’t deal with it anymore.” 

The two inmates’ violent pasts are also well documented. 

Schneider is in prison for a robbery conviction in Los Angeles County and attempted murder while incarcerated at Folsom State Prison. He has been in Pelican Bay since 1986, Heimerich said. Schneider is currently serving life without the possibility of parole. 

Bretches, 44, is in Pelican Bay for second degree murder and was also found guilty of assault with a deadly weapon while incarcerated, according to state records. He is currently serving life without the possibility of parole