Los Angeles ? Against a backdrop of bloody autopsy pictures, a prosecutor implored jurors Monday to convict two dog owners in the mauling death of a neighbor, saying they ignored the warning signs of their “time bomb” animals.

“There were earlier explosions but this time they killed a woman,” prosecutor Jim Hammer told the jury, which is expected to begin deliberations today.

Attorney Nedra Ruiz, left, gives closing arguments as her client, Marjorie Knoller, listens during trial in Los Angeles. Ruiz shows a photo of Knoller after her dogs attacked and killed neighbor Diane Whipple. Knoller and her husband, Robert Noel, both are charged in the fatal mauling.

Holding up a cast of the gaping teeth of the dog that killed Diane Whipple, the prosecutor pointed to the defendants and said, “Do not let them get away with their lies and don’t let Marjorie Knoller get away with murder.”

Knoller is charged with second-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and owning a mischievous dog that killed a person. She could receive 15 years in prison if convicted. Her husband, Robert Noel, is charged with the latter two crimes and faces up to four years if convicted.

Noel’s attorney, Bruce Hotchkiss, told the jury in his closing statement that the mauling was a tragic, unforeseeable accident.

“It’s a case full of passion and prejudice,” said Hotchkiss, who criticized the prosecutor’s argument. “You saw a lot of passion here this morning and the reason you saw a lot of passion is because that’s all there is to this criminal case.”

Hammer began by recounting a television interview in which Knoller was asked if she took responsibility for Whipple’s death.

“And cold as ice, she said, ‘No, she should have closed her door. That’s what I would have done,”‘ Hammer said.

Hammer ridiculed Knoller’s testimony in which she painted herself as a hero who tried to save the life of Whipple, 33, who was killed as she brought groceries to her San Francisco apartment on Jan. 26, 2001.

Knoller claimed she threw herself on top of Whipple to protect her from the dog, Bane, one of two massive presa canario dogs the couple kept.

But it was too late by then, Hammer argued. He said Knoller and Noel should have known their dogs could become killers at any moment.

He showed jurors charts recounting the testimony of more than 30 witnesses who said Bane and the other dog, Hera, lunged at them, barked and growled, in one case bit a man, and terrorized people in their building and outside.

“By Jan. 26, it was not a question of whether someone was going to be mauled,” Hammer said. “The only question was when and who and where. That is the issue in this case: What did they know before Jan. 26? They knew they couldn’t control the dogs and they knew what the dogs could do.”

The prosecutor pointed to a letter in which Knoller said that if Bane were to get away from her she could not stop him, and comments by Noel that his wife could not control the dogs.

Nevertheless, he said, Noel left their apartment that morning, leaving his wife alone to take care of Bane and Hera.

Holding up the mold of Bane’s teeth, he said, “With the size of these teeth and what these teeth have already done … that is 100 percent notice of the danger of these dogs and it didn’t mean a damn thing to them.”

The prosecutor showed photos of Knoller’s cut hands after Whipple’s death. The defendant claimed the injuries were the result of trying to save Whipple.

“My mother gets worse wounds gardening,” the prosecutor said. “Compare those to what happened to Diane Whipple.”