A Pennsylvania judge allegedly shot her ex-boyfriend in the head while he slept before she tried convincing him that he shot himself as he lay blinded in one eye.
Magisterial District Judge Sonya M. McKnight, 57, was charged with first-degree attempted murder and aggravated assault charges Thursday for shooting Michael McCoy in his Harrisburg area home on Feb. 9, according to court records.
Susquehanna Township Police wrote in the arrest affidavit that McCoy, 54, had tried “numerous times” to end his one-year relationship with McKnight, as well as trying to get her to move out of his home before she allegedly attempted to kill him.
McCoy had returned home from a tavern to find McKnight relaxing on his couch in her pajamas and again told her she needed to leave, saying he would enlist the help of her mother to get her out of his home if he had to. She allegedly agreed to go.
“Michael McCoy stated that it was like she finally understood that it was over,” police said.
Following what seemed to be an understanding between the pair, McCoy went to bed at about 11 p.m. that Friday.
However, sometime later, he was awoken by a “massive head pain” and was blind.
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.
McKnight called 911 shortly before 1 a.m. that Saturday to report McCoy’s injury.
Police shared that during the call she “could not explain what happened and stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming.”
Emergency responders rushed McCoy to the hospital where they found a gunshot wound to the right temple that exited his left temple.
Authorities say the extent of the damage left McCoy blind in his right eye.
A gun registered to McKnight was found at the scene and she was found to have gunshot residue on her hands only an hour after the shooting, according to the affidavit.
McCoy had told police at the scene that he did not shoot himself, a statement he reiterated while in the hospital.
Both McCoy and McKnight said no one besides them was in the home during the shooting.
McKnight had also told investigators that she did not leave the home on the night of the shooting, but that claim was quickly debunked after doorbell footage from a neighbor’s home showed her leaving the house.
McCoy told police he believed she had followed him to the tavern he was at that Friday evening.
McKnight has since been suspended from her duties as an elected judge in Dauphin County, a position she’s held since 2016.
She’s currently locked up in the Dauphin County Prison as of Friday and her bail set at $300,000.
Due to a conflict of interest, her case will be transferred from Dauphin County to neighboring Cumberland County and prosecuted by District Attorney Sean McCormack.
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.
Mcknight faces up to 40 years in prison if convicted of first-degree attempted murder since she allegedly inflicted bodily harm on McCoy, according to Pennsylvania law.
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