The San Francisco lawyer whose dogs fatally mauled a neighbor was sentenced to four years in prison Monday, the maximum allowed for involuntary manslaughter — but far less than the term she would have faced for second-degree murder.

Marjorie Knoller had been convicted by a Los Angeles jury of both murder and manslaughter, but the trial judge later reversed the murder conviction for the dog attack, the first of its kind in California.

Had the murder conviction stood, Knoller would have faced a maximum term of 15 years to life in prison. Judge James Warren, who set aside the jury's verdict on the murder charge, ordered that Knoller be retried on just on that count.

Knoller's husband, Robert Noel, received an identical sentence last month for the death of college lacrosse coach Diane Whipple, who was attacked by the couple's two Presa Canarios as she was entering her apartment.

Citing aggravating circumstances such as lying on the stand, a lack of remorse and the vulnerability of the victim, Warren ruled that Knoller deserved the maximum sentence rather than probation or less prison time.

Victim Diane Whipple

"I find that in your effort to avoid responsibility for this crime you knowingly committed perjury over and over again," he said.

Prosecutors said there were at least 52 instances in which Knoller lied on the stand while testifying before the grand jury and then later during the trial, including testimony in which she denied ever seeing the dogs bite another person or even act aggressively toward others. A slew of state witnesses said they witnessed the dogs, who have both since been destroyed, bite, lunge or act aggressively towards others in their owners' presence.

Those factors outweighed any mitigating circumstances that worked in Knoller favor, Warren said, such as a clean criminal record prior to the incident and pro bono work she had performed in her full-time career as a lawyer.

While the other charge Knoller was convicted of — possessing a mischievous animal — is punishable by up to three years in prison, no time could be added on to the sentence since both convictions resulted from the same act.

"You knew those dogs were dangerous, that at some point somebody was going to get hurt because of those dogs," Warren told her during the proceeding.

But while Warren had harsh words for Knoller, he also sharply criticized statements previously made by prosecutor Jim Hammer following Warren's decision last month to reverse the jury's murder conviction. Hammer had told Warren that the decision "destroyed a sense of justice in San Francisco."

"I certainly hope that is correct," Warren countered, saying that justice is not the same as a "sense of justice," which he characterized as infected with bias and has been used by Ku Klux Klan members, vigilantes and terrorists as justification for their actions.

"The court is convinced that the rulings were correct and I adhere to them," Warren said.

Hammer responded that the murder conviction was not personal, but about giving a voice to the victim.

"A life sentence won't bring back Diane Whipple. Four years won't bring her back," Hammer said, saying that the only thing that would give the victim's family peace would be an apology from the defendant.

"Stand up as a human being and say, 'I'm sorry,' " Hammer said. "This is the perfect opportunity."

But when Warren asked moments later if any party wanted to make a statement to the court, silence washed over the courtroom. Knoller scribbled a note on a legal pad to lawyer Dennis Riordan, who then addressed the court offered a few brief comments on Knoller's behalf — but not an apology.

"It would be the height of arrogance to think that after this court has carefully reflected in this case...that anything that I could say would affect that judgment," he said.

Riordan added that the loss suffered by Whipple's loved ones exists whether the incident was an accident or not.

But Sharon Smith, Whipple's domestic partner, sharply criticized Riordan's argument, saying that the void in her life is an "aggravated hole" because of the circumstances under which Whipple died.

"There is a huge difference," she said during a press conference following the proceeding.

Prosecutors are appealing the reversal of the murder conviction and say they expect a decision from the Court of Appeals within a year.

"If the murder charge is reversed she will return to the judge for sentencing, not for retrial," said San Francisco District Attorney Terrence Hallinan.