Dog Maul Case: The California Supreme Court decided unanimously yesterday to send back to the Superior Court the case of Marjorie Knoller’s second-degree murder conviction. In January 2001, Knoller and her husband Robert Noel’s two Presa Canario dogs mauled to death 33-year-old Diane Whipple in the hallway of their San Francisco apartment building. Knoller and Noel were originally charged with manslaughter and both paroled from prison in 2004. If the second-degree murder conviction is restored, Knoller would spend 15 years to life in prison as reported by Bob Egelko with the San Francisco Chronicle. The court held that, in granting Knoller's new trial motion, the Superior Court had set the bar for "implied malice murder" too high, but in reversing that order the Court of Appeal had set it too low. The remand directs the trial court to reconsider in light of the Supreme Court's clarification of the standard.

Put us to Death! Former head of the Sicilian Mafia, and current Italian prisoner, Carmelo Musumeci has written and had distributed a letter stating that life sentences violate the Constitution, therefore demanding the death penalty. Now, after 309 convicted murderers serving their life in prison sentences have signed this letter, it has been sent to President Napolitano for help, according to this (London) Times Online story. Italy’s death penalty was abolished after World War II. A new bill in discussion in a Senate Commission would do away with life sentences if approved. A senior judge is quoted as giving the bill little chance.

"Dr. Death" is Free: The Detroit News reports today that Jack Kevorkian has been released from prison this morning in Michigan as reporters and protesters gathered outside. 79-year-old Kevorkian spent almost 9 years in prison after being convicted in 1999 for the videotaped assisted death of Thomas Youk who had Lou Gehrig’s Disease. After failed appeals, the state’s Parole Board last year granted Kevorkian early release from prison under the condition that he is prohibited to participate in assisting suicides.

Gang-related Killings Drop: Richard Winton and Jill Leovy of the Los Angeles Times report today that gang-related killings in the Los Angeles have dropped 32%, according to statistics released yesterday. Chief William Bratton gives credit to the officers for the decrease, while some officers also credit, “demographic changes, improved trauma care for assault victims and longer prison sentences, are also affecting crime statistics such as homicide.”

Three-strikes laws, for example, have thinned the ranks of some gangs in the LAPD's 77th Division, Det. John Radtke said. "If I sit down and go through the gang list, it's amazing how many names are in jail or dead."