A Pennsylvania jury that convicted Sonya McKnight of attempting to murder her ex-boyfriend didn’t know she was a magistrate judge.
McKnight, 58, shot her ex-boyfriend, Michael McCoy, 54, in the head while he slept on February 10, 2024. McKnight lived with McCoy, but she refused to move out of his home after they broke up.
McKnight agreed to leave the home on February 9, 2024. According to a police report, McKnight waited until McCoy went to sleep, then she shot him in the head.
McCoy awoke with a severe headache and screaming that he couldn’t see. McKnight repeatedly asked him, “Mike, what did you do to yourself?”
McKnight called 911 and told the dispatcher her boyfriend couldn’t see. She did not explain that he’d been shot.
The shooting left McCoy permanently blind in one eye.
Last week, Judge McKnight was found guilty of one count of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault.
She faces up to 60 years in prison when she’s sentenced.
The jurors that convicted McKnight were surprised to learn that she is a sitting magistrate judge in Dauphin County. The jurors weren’t given that information during the trial.
McKnight has held the position as magistrate judge since 2016. Despite being found guilty of attempted murder, she is still a judge.
The jurors also learned after the trial that McKnight had previously shot her ex-husband in the groin in 2019. No charges were filed in that case after investigators determined that she had acted in self-defense.
