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911 calls for help during dog mauling released

Knoller gasped upon hearing the verdict last month.

SAN FRANCISCO, California (CNN) -- Authorities on Tuesday released the 9-1-1 tapes that contain the first emergency calls for help when a pair of dogs were mauling a San Francisco, California, woman to death last year.

Diane Whipple, 33, was killed in January, 2001 when the dogs, a mixed breed of mastiff and Canary Island dog, each weighing more than 100 pounds, attacked her in the hallway outside her apartment.

Marjorie Knoller, 46, who was walking the dogs on leashes at the time of the attack, was convicted of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter on March 21.

CNN NewsPass VIDEO Affiliate KRON reporter Don Knapp presents the 9-1-1 calls for help, recorded by San Francisco police dispatchers as dogs were mauling a woman to death. (April 3) Play video

Her husband Robert Noel, 60, who was not present during the mauling, also was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous animal.

Superior Court Judge James Warren has set a May 10 sentencing date for the couple. Knoller faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison for second-degree murder. Noel and Knoller both face sentences of two to four years in prison on the involuntary manslaughter charges, while owning a mischievous animal that kills carries a sentence of 16 months to three years.

On the 9-1-1 tape a woman who lived in the same building as Whipple can be heard describing the attack and pleading with the operator to send police as soon as possible.