Woman gets jail for group attack on gay Philadelphia couple

Prosecutors showed the jury multiple tweets sent by Knott from a few years ago in which she used hashtags #gay and #dyke and made comments including “the ppl we were just dancing with just turned and made out with each other”. She was in tears as she was taken into custody immediately after her sentence was handed down.

Dressed more conservatively in court, Knott, prior to being sentenced, stood sobbing, her voice quaking as she read an apology to Haught and his boyfriend, 29-year-old Zachary Hesse, also of Philadelphia.

Fellow suspects Phillip Williams, 24, and Kevin Harrigan, 26, both pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in connection with the Center City assault near Rittenhouse Square that left one of the victims with a broken jaw.

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.

Williams and Harrigan said they were protecting Knott from the couple.

But Common Pleas Court Judge Roxanne Covington was not buying it.

In addition to jail time, Knott was ordered to serve two years probation and pay $2,000 in fines.

Under plea deals, which the victims approved, both Bucks County men were sentenced to probation and community service and were banned from coming to Center City during their probation.

During Knott’s trial, a man claiming to be her gay cousin wrote a Facebook post defending her innocence and claiming she was an ally to gay people.

The three were part of a group that attacked a gay couple after the two groups encountered each other on the street.

Harrigan pushed and punched Hesse.

After Knott got up, red-faced and weeping heavily, she went to the bar of the court and hugged her mother. She was acquitted of two felony charges and one misdemeanor charge.

Hesse testified the ensuing incident was “terrifying”.