Features

SAN FRANCISCO — Legal experts were left scratching their heads following an unexpected ruling Monday in the San Francisco dog mauling trial. 

San Francisco County Superior Court Judge James L. Warren threw out the second-degree murder conviction of Marjorie Knoller, the San Francisco woman whose dogs fatally mauled a neighbor in the hallway of the apartment complex where they lived. 

But whether the judge’s move bars prosecutors from retrying her is open to interpretation. 

Warren ruled that Knoller could be tried again on second-degree murder charges stemming from Diane Whipple’s death. But he also ruled there was insufficient evidence when the jury convicted her the first time in March, and reduced the charges to manslaughter carrying a potential four-year term. 

Terence Hallinan, the outspoken San Francisco district attorney, wasn’t even sure whether his office had the legal right to bring her before a jury a second time. 

“Whether we can retry it or not, we’re not exactly clear. It’s a much trickier question than that,” Hallinan said. 

The judge set a hearing for next month, when Hallinan will ask the judge to reinstate the murder conviction that carries a mandatory 15-years-to-life sentence. 

Knoller’s attorney, Dylan Schaffer, also was unsure of whether his client could be retried. And Kimiko Burton, the public defender in this city abuzz with the case, said a retrial was possible. 

“It probably is legally possible,” she said. “I think technically she can be retried.” 

Santa Clara Law School scholar Gerald Uelmen said a new trial was barred. “A retrial is precluded,” he said. 

A new trial would violate double jeopardy, a legal protection that forbids persons from being retried “over and over,” Uelmen said. 

Knoller was charged with murder because she was handling the dogs at the time of the attack while her husband was away. 

The judge allowed Noel’s manslaughter conviction to stand and sentenced him Monday to four years. The wife’s sentencing was delayed to give prosecutors the chance to challenge the ruling throwing out Knoller’s murder conviction.