Marjorie Knoller says the decision to send her back to jail last week left her shocked and devastated.
In an exclusive jailhouse interview with the Bay Area Reporter this week, Knoller said that the toughest part of being sent back to jail was when the judge ordered her to be immediately taken into custody. She noted that she was not able to return to Florida to arrange for a permanent caretaker for her elderly mother. She had hoped that she would at least be allowed to be free on bail until her sentencing next month to give her time to make those arrangements.
Knoller recalled the handcuffs being put on her wrists and being taken back to jail, a part of her life that she had hoped was behind her.
"It's deja vu all over again," she recalled musing to a sheriff's deputy who remembered her from her first stint in the San Francisco County jail seven years ago.
Jim Hammer, the former San Francisco assistant district attorney who prosecuted the original case against Knoller, told the B.A.R. that in all the murder cases he's prosecuted, he's never seen a case in which someone was allowed bail after being convicted of first- or second-degree murder.
"It's the norm. She is not being treated worse than anyone else," Hammer said. "And secondly, the fact that she's a Florida resident adds one more thing to it. It is not as if she has been living in the same house in San Francisco for 15 years."
Knoller spoke to the B.A.R. on Sunday, August 24, just minutes after meeting with her husband, Robert Noel. Noel also talked to the B.A.R. in the lobby of the San Francisco County Jail on 7th Street just after his visit.
"I just hate seeing Marjorie in an orange jumpsuit again and not being able to take her home with me," he said.
Former San Francisco Superior Court Judge James Warren once called Knoller and Noel "the most despised couple in San Francisco." In 2002, the couple was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in connection with the fatal dog mauling of their neighbor, Diane Whipple. Knoller, who was with her two Presa Canario dogs during the January 2001 attack, was also convicted of second-degree murder. Prosecutors successfully convinced a jury that the couple ignored warnings that their dogs were dangerous. Warren later tossed out Knoller's murder conviction. On Friday, August 22, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Charlotte Woolard reinstated the murder charge and ordered Knoller to be taken into custody immediately. She is scheduled to be formally sentenced to 15-years-to-life on September 22.
Noel told the B.A.R. that he and Knoller are still married and remain very much devoted to one another.
"Unless she divorces my ass, I will be married to her until the day I die," he said.
Knoller told the B.A.R. that having her husband's continued support has helped her to cope with the shock of being sent back to prison. Knoller flew into the Sacramento airport early last week to spend time with Noel in the mountains before the hearing on Friday. She noted that it was difficult to return to San Francisco because of all the bad memories.
"I used to love San Francisco," she said.
Noel lives in Solano County but has continued to maintain a correspondence with Knoller. Just days after Knoller's parole ended in January 2007, he visited her for the first time in Florida. Noel said it has been helpful for their appeals for him to still live in the Bay Area.
Knoller was released from state prison in January 2004. Knoller told the B.A.R. that although she had served her time in the general population, she never had a problem. She said that it helped that she shared a dormitory with former Symbionese Liberation Army member, Sara Jane Olson. Knoller said that she and Olson became good friends and that because Olson also came from a high profile case, it helped to deflect attention from her.
Knoller said that the judge's decision to send her back to prison came as a shock but she knew early on in the hearing that it didn't look good.
"I knew by the way the judge was speaking, that it wasn't going our way," she said.
Outside court, Whipple's former partner, Sharon Enlowsmith, told reporters that it was very difficult to relive the tragedy and hear aspects of the attack on Whipple from which she previously had been shielded. Enlowsmith's last name was Smith but she changed her name to combine it with her new partner's last name.
"Being here today, seeing Marjorie Knoller for the first time in six years, it just erases the last six years of my life," Enlowsmith said. "I feel like I am right back in it. All the tragedy, all the memories come flooding in. It's a very emotional time."
Hammer told the B.A.R. that he held Enlowsmith's hand during the hearing and that it was emotional for both of them. Hammer said that during the trial, he shielded Enlowsmith from the more horrific details of the attack but she heard some of those details in court for the first time during the hearing. Outside court, Hammer held up Whipple's lacrosse ring. Enlowsmith gave it to Hammer during the 2002 trial and again at last week's hearing.
Grasping the ring, Hammer told reporters, "A real woman died for no good reason. That's what a San Francisco grand jury said, the LA jury said, that's what the Supreme Court said, and now Judge Woolard said it."
Noel and Knoller told the B.A.R. that they are hopeful both their convictions will be overturned on appeal.
Noel said his appeal focuses on the alleged 30 instances of his dogs being aggressive toward people. He said that the incidents of the dogs snapping at people were the dogs' way of warning or warding off people with no intention to bite.
In his written appeal, Noel argued that the fact that Knoller was with the dogs when they attacked Whipple is contrary to the prosecution's claims of negligence. Noel cited the prosecution's expert on dog behavior, Dr. Randall Lockwood, who said that in the over 300 fatal dog attacks he's looked at, he has not seen a case of a healthy young adult woman who had been killed when the owner is present. Lockwood added that the owner's presence is usually enough to prevent an attack.
California Deputy Attorney General Amy Haddix argued the case for the prosecution during last Friday's hearing. Outside court, she told reporters why she believed the judge ruled against Knoller.
"The evidence was absolutely overwhelming," Haddix said. "It took the court 20 minutes to summarize the evidence that was shown in this case that showed a conscious disregard for life."