California Judge Reinstates Murder Conviction in Dog Mauling Case

A woman whose dog mauled her neighbor to death could go back to prison for several years after a Superior Court judge reinstated on Friday the jury’s original second-degree murder conviction.

“The defendant acted with conscious disregard for human life,” said Judge Charlotte Woolard, after listing some of more than 30 incidents in which Marjorie Knoller’s dogs bit or lunged at other people, and quoting from a veterinarian’s letter warning the dogs were dangerous.

Woolard then reinstated the jury’s conviction of second-degree murder for Knoller in connection to the death of Dianne Whipple in 2001. The presiding judge had thrown out that charge and convicted Knoller of involuntary manslaughter in March 2002.

Knoller was sentenced to four years in prison, and was paroled in 2004 after serving about half her sentence.

Whipple was attacked by at least one of two huge Presa Canarios cared for by Knoller in the hallway of the San Francisco apartment building where they all lived. Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, who were both lawyers, were keeping the dogs for a state prison inmate whom the couple eventually adopted.

An appeals court then reinstated the second-degree murder conviction but last year the California Supreme Court said the trial judge and appeals court were both wrong and sent the case back down for reconsideration.

Knoller now faces 15 years to life in prison when she’s sentenced on Sept. 22.

“This was a senseless and preventable death,” said deputy attorney general Amy Haddix. “She elevated the quality of life of these dogs above the safety of their neighbors.”

Noel, who also was convicted of involuntary manslaughter, wasn’t at home during the grisly attack that tore all of Whipple’s clothes from her body and left her with 73 different bites, including the fatal bites on the neck.

The couple outraged San Francisco residents in the days following the attack, when during a TV interview they seemed to blame the victim for her death. Knoller testified during trial that she had tried desperately to get the male dog, Bane, off Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach.

The judge on Friday ruled Knoller should be held in custody until her sentencing, without bail, since she faces a possible life sentence, has no community ties and can be considered a flight risk.

Whipple’s former partner, Sharon Smith, was at the courthouse for the hearing.

“There is some relief, some closure here, but we still have the sentencing,” she said.

Defense attorney Dennis Riordan said the judge’s decision lowered the bar on the definition of murder. Knoller had testified that she never thought her dogs could kill someone, and her demeanor during the trial convinced the judge who heard the case, Riordan said.

For judge Woolard to read over the evidence without having been at the trial and find otherwise constitutes “a great act of hubris,” he said. “The murder charge in this case never made sense.”

Source: Associated Press

Mendte Pleads Guilty To Hacking Alycia Lane’s Email

Former Philadelphia news anchor Larry Mendte pleaded guilty on Friday to illegally accessing the email of his former co-anchor, the troubled Alycia Lane. Mendte faces a possible 5 years in prison. The advisory federal sentencing guidelines call for a sentence in the range of 0 to 6 months. I would anticipate a sentence closer to the lower end of the range, and possibly no prison time, although I do not think that Mendte helped himself with his post-plea news conference yesterday, during which he accused Lane of starting the personal feud between the former co-anchors that culminated with Lane’s firing after an unseemly incident with New York police, and Mendte being charged with hacking Lane’s email, and allegations that Mendte had been the source for numerous unflattering gossip stories about Lane. According to Mendte, Lane began a campaign to undermine Mendte with station management after Mendte ended what he described as a “flirtatious” and “inappropriate” relationship with Lane. Lane denies the relationship existed, as well as Mendte’s broader allegations. Regardless of the truth of the matter – and it certainly lies in there somewhere and, in all likelihood, sits closer to Mendte’s version than Lane’s – Mendte would have been better off simply saying his mea culpa, and leaving his finger pointing explanation for another day, preferably after his sentencing in November.

Cops Gone Wild – Prince George’s County

The Baltimore Sun reports on another instance of jack booted thuggery, this one perpetrated by the Prince George’s County, Maryland Sheriff’s Department. Having allegedly intercepted a package containing marijuana that had been mailed to the home of the mayor of the town of Berwyn Heights, the sheriff’s department evidently presumably concluded that someone in the mayor’s home – possibly the mayor himself – was a dangerous drug dealer, and a violent criminal. I say presumably, because there is no other explanation – nomrational explanation, at least – for what the sheriff decided to do. Seems the department thought it was necessary to stage a violent, paramilitary style raid on the mayor’s home. In the course of this “police” action, members of the sheriff’s SWAT team shot and killed the mayor’s two dogs, and generally terrorized the inhabitants of the home. The mayor was forced to descend the stairs of his own home, clad only in socks and his underwear, backwards and with his hands up. Only problem is, the thugs were mistaken. Seems that two individuals were recently apprehended for participation in a smuggling ring that had their goods shipped to unsuspecting homes. Has the sheriff’s department apologized? Of course not. Seems like just another case of a bunch of jack booted thugs with too many resources, too little smarts, and not enough real criminals to chase. Like Roger Clemens.

Bad News For Fumo

Another of State Senator Vice Fumo’s former aide’s has agreed to plead guilty and testify against their former boss. Looks like the rats are deserting the ship – with emphasis on the word rat. The Philly.com has the story:

In another blow to State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo, a computer technician who prosecutors said carried out an electronic cover-up for Fumo has agreed to plead guilty and is expected to testify against his former boss.

Leonard P. Luchko, 51, who worked in Fumo’s South Philadelphia office, is scheduled to plead guilty on Monday before a federal judge, according to a document filed yesterday in U.S. District Court.

Luchko and another computer technician are charged with systematically deleting e-mails and other potential evidence from computers used by Fumo and Fumo aides as well as by staffers at a key nonprofit organization that figured in the federal investigation.

The cleansing of the computers was allegedly done at Fumo’s behest and for the sole purpose of thwarting the federal investigation into Fumo’s activities.

Fumo, 65, a Philadelphia Democrat who has been a political powerhouse for decades in Harrisburg, is to stand trial in a sweeping corruption case starting next month.

He is accused of defrauding the state Senate and two nonprofit groups, misusing their employees and money for personal and political advantage. He is also charged with staging a cover-up to obstruct the FBI and IRS investigations.

Luchko is the second new prosecution witness to emerge in the months leading up to the trial before U.S. District Judge William H. Yohn Jr.

In June, political consultant Howard J. Cain, for years one of Fumo’s closest confidants, pleaded guilty to tax evasion and agreed to testify against Fumo.

Another computer aide in Fumo’s office, Donald Wilson, has been cooperating with federal prosecutors since before the indictment. He, too, is on the prosecution’s witness list.

James C. Schwartzman, a longtime friend of Fumo’s who is representing Luchko, did not respond to e-mail or phone messages. Fumo’s lead defense attorney, Dennis J. Cogan, would not comment about Luchko’s decision to plead guilty.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys John Pease and Robert Zauzmer also declined to comment about the scheduled guilty plea.

Luchko and a second computer technician, Mark C. Eister, were charged with leading an effort to cleanse computers used by Fumo, his staff, and workers at Citizens’ Alliance for Better Neighborhoods, a civic nonprofit organization funded with millions of dollars through Fumo’s efforts. Eister is awaiting trial with Fumo. His lawyer, Brian P. McMonagle, could not be reached for comment.

According to the federal indictment, the effort began in earnest Jan. 25, 2004, after The Inquirer reported that the FBI was investigating Fumo.

“The FBI probe into the Senator has really set him off. . . . He wants all the Blackberries wiped,” Luchko wrote in an e-mail to Eister that evening.

Even as Luchko and Eister worked assiduously to clean others’ computers, they failed to cleanse their own, an oversight exploited by the FBI to obtain copies of hundreds of e-mails.

In those messages to other staffers and Senate contractors, Luchko repeatedly cited demands from “the Boss” that potentially damaging e-mails be deleted.

“Mail from the Boss needs to be deleted!” Luchko wrote to one Senate contractor. “. . . You really have to clean your mailbox up this is the kind of s- that can get us in trouble.”

In another, Luchko boasted about his ability to outwit the FBI, saying investigators could never extract data from a particular Citizens’ Alliance computer.

“Good Luck to them because they are going to need it,” Luchko wrote. “They aren’t getting s- off that PC.”

In the e-mails, Luchko portrayed Fumo as absolutely determined to have the staff’s computer cleansed.

“The Boss is driving us ALL nuts with this FBI madness. . . . Life just got so complicated it isn’t even funny and the killer is I can’t tell anyone about it.”

Now, it appears, Luchko is talking about it, to prosecutors.

Might not look good for Fumo, but I still wouldn’t bet against him. Dude has more than nine lives.

Source: Philly.com

Ted Stevens Pleads Not Guilty, Will Ask For Venue Change

Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) entered a plea of not guilty today to seven charges of filing false financial disclosure forms. Stevens was indicted earlier this week. His lawyer, Brendan Sullivan of Williams & Connolly advised the court today that he would be filing a motion to have the venue of the trial changed to Alaska, where mist of the witnesses apparently reside, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The presiding judge indicated that he believed Washington was aan appropriate venue, but invited Mr. Sullivan to file the motion nonetheless.

My bet is that the motion will be denied. I would also be willing to wager that, unless he takes a plea, Stevens will have a very difficult time gaining an acquittal on these charges.* Really, good luck finding even a single juror who is not predisposed to believe that politicians in general, and old bulls like Stevens, are all corrupt to begin with. In any event, I’d say Brendan Sullivan has his work cut out for him here.

(*I am assuming that Stevens will opt for a jury trial. He’d be better off with a bench trial, in my estimation, but the arrogance of most elected politicians leads them to believe that they can persuade the “common folk” of pretty much anything).