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Neighbor: Dogs were 'menace' before fatal attack

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- The dogs that mauled a San Francisco woman in the hallway of an apartment building last year were a "menace" to those who lived there, a next-door neighbor testified Monday.

Skip Cooley -- who lived next to Robert Noel and Marjorie Knoller, the married couple who owned the dogs and who are now on trial in the death of 33-year-old Diane Whipple -- cited several incidents in which the dogs showed aggressive behavior long before January 26, 2001, when the dogs savagely attacked Whipple.

One time, he said, one of the dogs "sprang at me" and bared his teeth in "attack mode" as Cooley tried to get on the elevator. Another time, he and his wife were sitting in their sports utility vehicle when they saw Noel and Knoller running across the parking garage, shouting at their dogs who were apparently running after another dog, Cooley said.

"The dogs are a menace," said Cooley, who now lives in Houston.

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In August 2000, he filed a complaint with the apartment manager after the dogs viciously barked throughout the night and scratched on the bare hardwood floors. The day after lodging the complaint, Cooley said he received a letter from Noel, who defended the dogs' actions.

"We have been endeavoring to train Hera to respond to loud noises or suspicious sounds," the letter said.

Cooley was one of nine witnesses who all said the dogs had control problems, ranging from a poodle owner whose dog was attacked by one of the dogs and another person who said she didn't want to go near the couple because of their dogs. All of the witnesses said Noel and Knoller never disciplined the dogs after they showed aggressive behavior.

Mary Willard said she was parked in her car outside the apartment building when Noel came out of the building walking one of his dogs. The dog took off suddenly, making Noel fall, and then pulled him across the street.

"Noel fell on his knees and the dog dragged him," she said.

She added that Noel was only able to get up after he was at the other side of the street. She said it appeared he was angry and upset at the dog, although her windows were up and she couldn't hear what he was shouting.

Mario Montepeque, a dog trainer of some 15 years, said he was at a dog park in San Francisco when he saw Noel with one of the dogs. He said he told Noel that he should be using a choke collar -- that a harness would not be successful in training the dog.

That exchange, he said, came after Montepeque's dog rested his chin on the shoulder of Noel's dog, Hera. Hera spun around and tried to attack this dog.

"I told him his dogs were dominant," Montepeque said.

Knoller and Noel have pleaded innocent to the charges of involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous animal that killed a human being. Knoller -- who was with the two, large Presa Canario dogs during the attack on Whipple and was dragged down the apartment building hallway when one charged toward Whipple -- was also charged with second-degree murder.

Whipple, returning home with some groceries, had the key in her door and one of two bags inside when the attack began.

Last week, prosecutors and the defense presented the jury of seven men and five women photographs to make their points. They saw autopsy photos of Whipple's ravaged body with bite marks on her neck, face, head, buttocks, arms and legs. The prosecutor said Whipple died of blood loss and asphyxiation after her trachea was crushed by the dogs.