Remember that guy who was responsible for the death of that lady? The trial was all over the news. Eventually he wrote a book about how he was responsible for the murder and then everyone freaked out and there was a huge delay in publishing it due to a protracted legal battle. He’s in jail now, but not for the murder.
Well, it looks like Dale Bretches’s Dog O’ War might finally see the light of day because according to the Chron, a federal judge has urged the state to work out an agreement with the author to allow for the book’s publication.
See what I did there? You thought I was talking about O.J. Simpson’s weird confession/non-confession/shameless cash-in, If I Did It, when I was really taking about something else. I totally faked you out. Unless, of course, you read the headline of this article.
Anyway, Bretches and his cellmate Paul “Cornfed” Schneider at Del Norte County’s Pelican Bay prison ran a dog breeding business from the inside and were the ones who placed the two Presa Canarios with Marjorie Knoller and Robert Noel that famously mauled Diane Whipple to death in the hallway of their apartment building in 2001.
The couple was found guilty of second-degree murder and involuntary manslaughter respectively. Bretches, a fine, upstanding member of the Aryan Brotherhood, is himself serving time for on a count of second-degree murder for a 1979 barroom brawl that turned fatal.
Knoller and Noel’s relationship with Schneider, as was reveled in the trail, was beyond creepy–with, among other things, erotic pictures of Knoller and the dogs showing up Schneider’s cell. Ewwwww.
Bretches’s book reportedly details his practice of breeding fighting dogs both in and out of prison, contains graphic descriptions of dog fights, boasts about his own fighting abilities, and includes a colorful collection of anti-gay slurs and the identification of a fellow inmate as an informant.
While this sounds like a truly riveting read, right up there with this upcoming blockbuster, the state has blocked the sale of the book, citing a rule banning inmates from running businesses as well as safety concerns. This led Bretches to sue on First Amendment grounds.
Bretches claims he is willing to donate royalties from the book to the Humane Society and/or remove offending passages, but at present prison authorities appear unwilling to relent despite the judge’s exhortations find some middle ground with the author.
Photo: Diane Whipple
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