SAN FRANCISCO — The lawyer for the couple charged in the dog-mauling death of a neighbor said he likely will seek to move their trial. And he also will tell them to stop speaking publicly.
"Their attitude about this case has just tarnished them," attorney George Walker said Thursday after a judge delayed arraignment for Marjorie Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, until April 13.
"I can tell them now what to do, and you won't hear a word from them," he said.
Walker said it's likely he will defend Knoller, who faces a second-degree murder charge in the Jan. 26 death of Diane Whipple. Noel will hire his own lawyer.
In addition to the murder charge against Knoller, both she and Noel face charges of involuntary manslaughter and keeping a mischievous dog that killed a person.
Walker, who asked for a delay in the arraignment because he had not had sufficient time to review the case, said he likely will ask to move the case out of San Francisco because of the heavy media coverage.
"Their words have colored the thinking of San Francisco," Walker said. He said he would have advised the couple — both lawyers — not to talk to the grand jury, make statements or write letters. Noel had written a letter to prosecutors blaming Whipple for the attack.
At a hearing Wednesday, the day after they were indicted, Knoller's bail was set at $2 million and Noel's at $1 million. Authorities said the bail was high because the couple were a flight risk. They had surrendered in Corning, about 170 northeast of San Francisco.
Knoller faces the stiffer charge because she was with the dogs in the hallway of their apartment building when they fatally mauled Whipple, a 33-year-old lacrosse coach.
Prison officials say the animals were part of a dogfighting ring run out of Pelican Bay State Prison by inmates Paul Schneider and Dale Bretches, who are serving life sentences without parole.
According to court documents released Thursday, authorities contend Knoller and Noel had struggled in the past to control the large dogs.
The run-ins allegedly included two attacks on a blind woman and her guide dog. Another dog nearly died after being bitten, and even Noel nearly lost a finger while trying to restrain the male dog, Bane, the documents say.
Walker said he has not seen the evidence and refused to comment on it.
The couple's apartment was searched, as well as Schneider's and Brethes' cell, the documents say.
Carlos Sanchez, a top investigator for the San Francisco district attorney's office, wrote that a prison guard found a letter to Schneider from either Noel or Knoller "regarding sexual activity between Noel, Knoller and the dog Bane," along with nude photos of Knoller.
Sanchez told San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lenard Louie that investigators believed the dogs were being sexually assaulted by Noel and Knoller.
Under California law, sexually assaulting an animal is a misdemeanor, but no charge was brought against the couple.
While neither Noel nor Knoller has directly addressed the sex allegations publicly, Noel has said it's nobody's business.
"There used to be a time when guy-on-guy or woman-on-woman relationships were looked at as unnatural acts," Noel told the San Francisco Chronicle last month. "What concern is it to anybody if there is or isn't a personal relationship?"
The Associated Press, the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News had asked the judge to make public the search warrants and prosecutors' theories supporting the searches.