Jurors found Knott guilty of simple assault and criminal conspiracy as applied to Hesse, 29, guilty of two counts of reckless endangerment and not guilty of criminal conspiracy as applied to Haught, 28, who suffered a broken jaw in the attack. Her parents rose to console her, and the judge ordered her immediately taken into custody.
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In October, Williams, 25, of Warminster, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy; Harrigan, 27, of Warrington, pleaded guilty to simple assault and conspiracy.
A short clip from surveillance video played at Monday’s well-attended sentencing hearing appeared to show Knott in a white dress and smiling as she and her group of friends walk to the next bar moments after the attack.
But Common Pleas Court Judge Roxanne Covington was not buying it. Today a judge sentenced the 25-year-old to five to ten months in jail for her crimes.
“People throughout the country may not even know that Ms. Knott wasn’t from Philadelphia, and was just visiting”, Assistant District Attorney Mike Barry said after the sentencing.
“I am so sorry about what happened to both of you”, said Knott, who asked them for forgiveness.
During the trial, Knott’s attorney, Louis Busico, argued that the young woman witnessed her friends attacking two men after a night of drinking celebrating a birthday in Center City.
One man in Knott’s group – Kevin Harrigan – began insulting the couple, Zachary Hesse and his boyfriend Andrew Haught, both in their upper 20s.
The confrontation turned physical as one of Knott’s co-defendants pushed Hesse.
Williams was sentenced to five years of probation and Harrigan was sentenced to three.
After Knott got up, red-faced and weeping heavily, she went to the bar of the court and hugged her mother.
The jury acquitted Knott of the most serious charge, aggravated assault, which is a felony.
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Hesse testified the ensuing incident was “terrifying”.
