On Wednesday, the trial began for Kathryn Knott, the young woman accused of participating in a violent attack on a gay couple in Center City Philadelphia a year ago.
Advertisement
Knott, 25, of Southampton, Bucks County, who is not in custody and has pleaded not guilty, is on trial before a Philadelphia Common Pleas jury on charges of aggravated assault, conspiracy, and related offenses. She and another friend were waiting for the bus when she saw the commotion.
They ran south on 16th Street. “Being present while some other people commit a crime is not a crime”, he said.
She testified she saw a woman in a white dress punch a man, with the crowd shouting “ooooh!” after it happened.
“She had blonde hair”. “It looked like she had a whitish and black dress”.
Left behind on Chancellor Street were two men. Moore says, “One was on the ground with blood”. “Don’t hold her responsible for the acts of other grown men”.
One bystander, Rachel Mondesire, seemed to back up Hesse’s account.
Hesse said he was punched by multiple people that night and suffered multiple black eyes, but didn’t need hospitalization.
Ruth said Knott was “screaming and throwing punches”, and that her group of friends were cheering the fact that “a girl was hitting a guy”.
“Except for that hate, that energy, we wouldn’t be here” at a trial, she contended. Haught testified Friday morning. Hesse told the court he responded, “Yeah, so what if it is my boyfriend”. “That was the first thing I told the detective”, he said.
During that time, Harrigan and others in his group were yelling “faggot”, Haught said.
The victims, Andrew Haught and Zachary Hesse, had been on their way for pizza when the attack occurred.
Haught, who spent five days at Hahnemann University Hospital, is expected to testify today before Judge Roxanne Covington. He went on to say his jaw had to be wired shut, saying, “For eight weeks I ate only broth”. He lost at least 15 pounds. Williams and Harrigan were also charged with conspiracy.
The two other accused in the attack opted to take plea deals, but Knott, who is the daughter of Pennsylvania police chief Karl Knott, is defending herself in court.
Advertisement
On Monday, Knott’s defense attorney and the assistant district attorney prosecuting the case selected the jury that will hear the trial.
