Marjorie Knoller Denied Parole for Third Time in Whipple Case

A California state parole panel denied Marjorie Knoller’s bid for release on Feb. 15, 2026, marking her third parole hearing and third denial in connection with the 2001 dog-mauling death of Diane Whipple. The board’s decision keeps Knoller in custody at the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, where she spoke remotely with her attorney during the hearing viewed by the Bay Area Reporter.

The remote hearing began at 8:30 a.m. and concluded just before noon, the Bay Area Reporter reported. Knoller appeared by videoconference from CCWF alongside her lawyer, while Sharon Smith, Knoller’s longtime partner and resident of the Pacific Heights apartment where the mauling occurred, spoke in opposition to parole. Smith read a prepared six-minute statement, at times choking up, and told the parole panel, as reported by the Bay Area Reporter, “What makes this incredibly difficult is that even after 25 years, Marjorie Knoller has never fully accepted responsibility for her role and (Whipple's) preventable death. She has never offered a sincere apology. She has never demonstrated genuine insight into the decisions that led to this tragedy.”

The San Francisco District Attorney’s office formally opposed parole and Assistant Chief District Attorney Allison Macbeth was seated alongside Smith at the hearing. Macbeth told the commissioners, per the Bay Area Reporter, “To this day, she still fails to acknowledge that it was her poor judgment well before January 26, 2001 which contributed to the life offense. She still has not developed any pro-social thinking that two massive dogs should never have been brought into a densely populated city and to live in a small apartment where other families lived.”

Deputy Commissioner James Andres asked Knoller, “As you sit here today, do you remember the moment you first learned that Diane Whipple had died? What was your immediate emotion?” Knoller’s one-word reply, reported by the Bay Area Reporter, was “Sadness.” The Bay Area Reporter also noted that none of Whipple’s relatives were present at the 2026 hearing, unlike previous hearings.

Knoller was convicted of second-degree murder for the Jan. 26, 2001 hallway mauling of Diane Whipple in the Pacific Heights apartment Knoller shared with Smith, and was sentenced to 15 years to life. Her co-defendant and then-husband Robert Noel was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter. NationalToday reported that the parole board cited Knoller as an “unreasonable risk to public safety.” DogBiteLaw’s historical coverage states a Los Angeles jury found Knoller guilty of every charge and describes prosecutors’ use of a “breed specific prosecution,” citing evidence that the two Presa Canario dogs lunged and snapped before the attack.

Details about the victim and the dogs vary across reports: NationalToday describes Whipple as a 34-year-old lacrosse teacher, while Yahoo reports she was 33 and a Long Island native. Yahoo also names the dogs Bane (125 pounds) and Hera (115 pounds) and reports both were euthanized after the attack. Yahoo further reports the dogs had been in the care of Knoller and Noel for a client described as a 38-year-old member of the Aryan Brotherhood serving a life sentence.

Knoller, reported to be 70 in 2026 by NationalToday and the New York Post, will be eligible for another parole hearing in February 2029, when NationalToday says she will be 73. The case remains one of San Francisco’s most notorious criminal incidents, and the parole board’s denial will keep the decision over Knoller’s possible release off the calendar until that next eligibility date.