A black judge in Pennsylvania was arrested last week after she allegedly shot her ex-boyfriend in the head while he was asleep, then attempted to claim he himself fired the gunshot that caused him to go blind in one eye.
According to court records, Magisterial District Judge Sonya McKnight, 57, was charged with first-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault for shooting ex Michael McCoy in his home last Thursday.
Reports state McCoy had attempted “numerous times” to break off a year-long relationship with McKnight and had asked her to move her belongings out of his home.
However, when he returned home from a bar last week he found McKnight in her pajamas relaxing in his living room.
After McKnight finally agreed to leave, McCoy went to bed around 11PM when he was awoken shortly thereafter suffering “massive head pain.”
McKnight then entered the bedroom and tried to gaslight McCoy into believing he shot himself while he slept.
The New York Post reports:
He panicked, screaming in pain and confusion, which alerted McKnight to come bolting into the bedroom.
“Mike, what did you do to yourself?” McKnight asked her estranged boyfriend upon entering the room, according to police.
During a 9-1-1 call around 1AM, McKnight was reportedly unable to explain how McCoy injured himself, and “stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming.”
However, police found a gun registered in McKnight’s name at McCoy’s home and detected gunshot residue on her hands.
Moreover, McCoy, who miraculously survived being shot in the right temple, insisted to police at the scene he didn’t shoot himself, as McKnight claimed.
She also claimed she hadn’t left the scene, but a neighbor’s doorbell camera showed McKnight had in fact left and come back to the home.
McCoy suggested this could mean McKnight had followed and stalked him while he was at the bar.
McKnight, who has served as an elected judge in Dauphin County since 2016, has now been suspended and her bail has been set at $300,000 as she faces up to 40 years in prison.
Her case has been moved to nearby Cumberland County because of a conflict of interest.
The Post also reports she had previously faced a shooting charge in a past relationship:
In 2019, McKnight shot her estranged husband, Enoch McKnight, in his groin after asking him to come to her home to help her move furniture, Pennlive.com reported.
The couple married in 2014 but had filed for divorce two years later. However, the divorce was still pending at the time of the shooting, which was ruled to be self-defense as the pair were in the midst of a domestic dispute.
