Woman guilty of lesser charges in violent assault on gay couple
A woman has been convicted of assault for a violent attack on a gay couple.
Kathryn Knott was found guilty of assault in the attack on a gay couple in Philadelphia last year.
However, the jury also acquitted Knott of four counts which included aggravated assault on each of the victims.
She was found guilty of simple assault and reckless endangerment.
Knott had told the jury that she had not played any active role in the attack which left one man with his jaw broken.
The attack took place on 11 September last year, and while the men were attacked they recall the assailants using homophobic slurs.
The two other accused in the attack opted to take plea deals, but Knott, who is the daughter of Pennsylvania police chief Karl Knott, decided to defend herself in court.
A judge previously permitted anti-gay tweets sent by Knott to be used as evidence in her trial.
The tweets were revealed after Knott was accused of the attack, and include referring to gay couple kissing, saying “ew”, and “jazz flute is for little fairy boys”.
In other tweets she used the word “dyke”, referring to her own hair in a derogatory way and using the word gay as a negative.
Throughout the trial, Knott consistently denied that she was homophobic.
