Updated March 4, 2002, 3:55 p.m. ET
Medical examiner details wounds to dog mauling victim

 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Using bloody pictures, a coroner testified Monday that the victim of last year's fatal dog mauling in San Francisco was bitten or clawed everywhere except the soles of her feet and the top of her head.

Dr. Boyd Stephens, the chief medical examiner in San Francisco, calmly explained each area with descriptions such as "the large jugular vein was transected or severed." He used a pointer to show exactly where canine teeth penetrated Diane Whipple's body.

Before the display began, Superior Court Judge James Warren told the audience: "Ladies and gentlemen, these are very specific photographs. They are going to be shown and they are going to be very detailed. You may not want to be present."

Whipple's mother quickly left the courtroom and spectators continued to exit as the testimony became increasingly gruesome.

With 24 enlarged pictures posted on display boards, prosecutor Kimberly Guilfoyle Newsom had Stephens describe all 77 injuries to Whipple's body. Each was projected on an 8-by-10-foot screen.

As jurors watched, defendant Marjorie Knoller sat with her head down, a hand shielding her eyes. Her husband, Robert Noel, seated inches from the screen, watched the pictures and methodically took notes.

Whipple, 33, a college lacrosse coach, was attacked by her neighbors' two huge dogs in her apartment building hallway on Jan. 26, 2001.

Knoller is accused of second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and having a mischievous dog that killed a person. Noel is accused of the latter two charges. Their trial was moved to Los Angeles due to extensive publicity in San Francisco.

 
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