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SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A woman whose dogs fatally mauled a neighbor could get more prison time, after the California Supreme Court on Thursday ordered a trial judge to consider convicting her of second-degree murder rather than involuntary manslaughter.
A jury had first found Marjorie Knoller guilty of second-degree murder in the 2001 death of 33-year-old Diane Whipple. However, the presiding judge ruled that Knoller wasn't aware her two leashed Presa Canario dogs, each weighing more than 100 pounds, would escape her control and kill Whipple. The judge lowered the conviction to involuntary manslaughter.
An appeals court later reinstated the second-degree murder conviction, saying Knoller should have known the dogs were at risk to cause "great bodily harm."
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