Dog case boosts gay rights

Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO — The focus in the San Francisco dog-mauling case is shifting to a wrongful-death lawsuit filed by the victim’s lesbian partner — a legal milestone made possible by a law passed in the wake of the savage attack.

After Diane Whipple’s ghastly death last year, the California Legislature enacted a law granting gay partners the same right to sue as spouses or family members. That enabled Whipple’s partner, Sharon Smith, to bring a lawsuit against the dogs’ keepers.

"It will lead to other things that will be good for me and my partner, and my friends and their partners," said Johnnie Pratt, a San Francisco lesbian.

On Thursday, Marjorie Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, were convicted of murder and involuntary manslaughter, respectively, for the January 2001 mauling of Whipple by two huge dogs in the hallway outside her San Francisco apartment.

Knoller is believed to be the first person in California and the third person in recent U.S. history to be convicted of murder in a dog-mauling case.

Before Whipple’s death, state Assemblywoman Carole Migden, a San Francisco Democrat, had introduced the legislation granting gays the right to sue. But she said the mauling helped it clear the Legislature and Gov. Gray Davis.

Only California, Hawaii and Vermont grant such status to gays to sue on behalf of their partners, said David Smith of the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest gay advocacy group, based in Washington.

Other states may follow suit. A key legislator in Connecticut said a gay rights bill being crafted may include a provision granting someone the right to be treated as a crime victim if a gay partner is murdered.

"I think this case certainly did illustrate the lack of legal recognition and the compounded pain that that causes with the lack of legal recognition," said Smith of the Human Rights Campaign.

Knoller, 46, faces 15 years to life in prison when she is sentenced May 10 for second-degree murder. Noel, 60, faces up to four years on each of two charges. Only Knoller, who was walking the dogs at the time of the attack, was charged with the more serious crime.