in suing Knoller and Noel for $1,500,000 in civil damages. The civil case was notable in that the San Francisco Superior Court ruled in July 2001 that Smith was entitled to bring suit as Whipple's domestic partner under the Equal Protection Clause, against the defense's argument that a same-sex unmarried partner did not have standing. She donated some of the money to Saint Mary's College of California to fund the women's lacrosse team. Death of Robert Noel Noel died of heart failure on June 22, 2018, in a La Jolla nursing home. It was his 77th birthday. Noel lived in relative obscurity following his release from prison, working for a time as a baker in Fairfield, California. By 2016, increasing health problems led to his living out of a van for some time before he relocated to the San Diego area. See also Fatal dog attacks in the United States Kimberly Guilfoyle, prosecutor (along with James Hammer) in first trial References Further reading Harrington, Joseph. Death of an Angel: The Inside Story of how Justice Prevailed in the San Francisco Dog-mauling Case. Jones, Aphrodite. Red Zone: The Behind-The-Scenes Story of the San Francisco Dog Mauling. O'Leary, Shannon. Pet Noir (contains a story by O'Leary, illustrated by MariNaomi, of this case), Manic D Press. Wright, Evan. Hella Nation (contains an investigative report into the case, titled "Mad Dogs and Lawyers") "Attorneys in Dog-Mauling Case Deploy Widely Different Styles,", Anna Gorman, Los Angeles Times, 25 February 2002 "Dog owner convicted of second-degree murder in fatal attack on woman", Adolfo Flores, Los Angeles Times, 29 August 2014 External links Court TV coverage of Diane Whipple dog mauling case "Descent into Darkness - Southern Poverty Law Center Documentary series Mugshots from Court TV (now TruTV) "Mugshots: Knoller and Noel – The Attack Dog Scandal" episode (2002) from FilmRise Documentaries Multimedia Special from the San Francisco Chronicle 1968 births 2001 deaths Accidental deaths in California American lacrosse players American LGBT sportspeople Canid attacks Crimes in the San Francisco Bay Area Deaths by person in California Deaths due to animal attacks in the United States Deaths due to dog attacks Lacrosse coaches Lesbian sportswomen LGBT lacrosse players Penn State Nittany Lions women's lacrosse players People from Princeton, New Jersey Saint Mary's Gaels women's lacrosse coaches 20th-century American women 20th-century LGBT people 2001 in San Francisco