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Defense: Deadly dog attack was 'tragic accident'

Ruiz shows a picture of Marjorie Knoller after the dog attack.

LOS ANGELES, California (CNN) -- Jurors in the dog mauling trial of a San Francisco couple heard closing arguments Monday that the fatal attack either was "a tragic accident" or was caused by owners who "arrogantly" ignored the dangers posed by dogs "more dangerous than a loaded gun."

Marjorie Knoller was returning to her apartment after walking Bane, one of two Presa Canaria dogs owned by her and her husband, when the dog attacked their neighbor, Diane Whipple, 33, who was carrying groceries into her apartment.

"We'll never know what made Bane go berserk," defense attorney Nedra Ruiz said in her closing arguments. "We'll never know what crazed him to make him focus his aggression on poor Diane."

Ruiz said Knoller had taken the dogs for a walk just hours before the attack without incident. She said there was no way that Knoller could have predicted the attack on January 26, 2001.

Ruiz said Knoller repeatedly hit Bane on the muzzle to try to get him off Whipple and was so close that a torn piece of her shirt and bags she used to pick up his waste were found among Whipple's shredded clothes.

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Ruiz held up the bag of clothes and asked the jury why the prosecution did not point that out.

"What is the prosecution's excuse for keeping this evidence from you," Ruiz asked. "Maybe he wants to curry favor with the homosexual and gay folks who are picketing ... and demanding justice for Diane Whipple."

Family pets or monsters?

Ruiz disputed the prosecution's claim that Knoller lied repeatedly. She said the trauma of the attack clouded Knoller's memory.

Ruiz said Knoller did not know the dogs were dangerous and had rescued them because they were being abused.

She said Knoller knew that Presa Canaria dogs were guardian dogs but thought they had a similar temperament to mastiffs. She held up a copy of a magazine that called mastiffs "gentle giants."

Knoller is on trial on charges of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous animal that killed a human being.

Her husband, Robert Noel, is on trial for the last two charges. He was not charged with murder because he was not at the scene when the dogs attacked Whipple.

Noel's attorney said that Bane was "a family pet" and that no one could have predicted the dogs would attack and kill Whipple.

Hammer points at a defendant during his closing argument.

Prosecutor Jim Hammer during his closing argument called the dogs "beasts" and "monsters," comparing them to guns and bombs.

"These dogs were more dangerous than a loaded gun. I've called them a time bomb, because at least with a gun you have to pull the trigger, but these dogs would go off on their own over and over and over again," he said.

Hammer said Whipple was "ripped to death" by Bane and said the dog bit her all over her body and tore off her clothes.

He said Knoller went into her apartment after the attack, leaving Whipple "naked and alone" in the hallway.

'Meaner than a pit bull'

Hammer also ridiculed Knoller's testimony that she was bitten by Bane when she tried to help Whipple.

"My mother gets worse wounds gardening," he said. "Compare those to what happened to Diane Whipple."

Hammer said Knoller and Noel ignored the dogs' aggressive behavior and were hostile when neighbors complained.

He said Noel wrote a letter to a prison inmate acquaintance two weeks before Whipple's death, calling her a "timorous, mousy little blonde," who "almost had a heart attack" after an encounter with the dogs.

Diane Whipple was killed outside her apartment in January 2001.

He said the couple was running a kennel called Dog-O'-War with some California state prison inmates and planned to sell them as protection dogs. He said Presa Canarias were bred to hunt and kill pit bulls.

"These prisoners didn't choose poodles," Hammer said. "They wanted tough, aggressive dogs, and they picked the best dog they could find, a dog which you heard evidence of is meaner than a pit bull."

He said Knoller sent letters to the inmates discussing the dogs.

The case is expected to go to the jury Tuesday after the prosecution presents its rebuttal argument.