Convicted Gay Basher Kathyrn Knott Is In More Trouble ... $500,000 Worth

Poor Kathryn Knott; her legal troubles are far from over.

You remember Knott and her friends, Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams, were arrested and charged with gay bashing of Zachary Hesse and Andrew Haught, who committed the crime of WWH — Walking While Homosexual — and of HHWH—Hand Holding While Homosexual.

And while Kathryn maintained her innocence, her Twitter Hate Speech revealed she was a bigot and homophobe. But Kathryn, unlike Harrigan and Williams, refused to take a plea to avoid jail time and she was sentenced to five to ten months in prison for her crime.

And now we can add civil suit to her troubles, because Zachary Hesse and Andrew Haught just filed a suit against the police chief’s daughter and her cohorts, Harrigan and Williams, for physical injuries, psychological injury, emotional distress and embarrassment. They are allegedly seeking $500,000 and I hope they get every single penny.

I mean half-a-million ain’t much when you consider the millions awarded the women whose McDonald’s coffee was too darn hot, or the suit just filed against Starbucks for putting too much ice in their chilled beverages.

Oh, and the suit by Hesse and Haught comes just three weeks after Kathryn Knott was slapped with another suit from blogger Kathleen O’Donnell, who alleges Kathryn Knott used her daddy’s connections in law enforcement to get her fired from her job after writing a critical op-ed about the young gay basher.

Poor Kathryn Knott, getting her just desserts again and again, and hopefully, again and again.

LGBTQ Nation

Kathryn Knott Says She "Turned And Ran" And Did Not Gay Bash Anyone ... Uh Huh

Well, the jury in the assault trial of ALLEGED gay basher, homophobe and bigot Kathryn Knott will begin deliberations today following Knott’s own laughable testimony.

On the stand, she testified, under oath, that she did not strike anyone — contrary to testimony of a witness and one of the victims — or use homophobic language on the night two men were beaten in Philadelphia last year even though she was heard screaming Fucking faggot Fucking faggot Fucking faggot as she ran at the couple.

Knott faces charges of aggravated assault, simple assault, conspiracy and reckless endangerment for her role in the beatings, which left Andrew Haught with broken cheekbones and a fractured upper jaw that needed to be wired shut for eight weeks. Two of her cohorts — Kevin Harrigan and Philip Williams — pleaded guilty to assault and conspiracy charges and were sentenced to probation and 200 hours of community service at an LGBT Center.

For her part, Knott says she was near the middle of a group of 15 people when the incident broke out behind her and that she turned around to see a friend, Pat Conly, get up from the ground though she did not see what caused him to fall.

In other words, it wasn’t their fault, somebody else started it.

She then says she went toward the confrontation and was standing to the side when she saw Andrew Haught push her friend Taylor Peltzer's arm away; she then says Philip Williams rushed Haught and hit him once.

"I saw Phil go to pull his arm up. That's when I ran toward him to try and stop him. I didn't want to see anyone get hurt. ... Once I saw Phil connect with Mr. Haught, I turned and ran the other way." — Kathryn Knott

Funny then that two people say she entered the fray and threw at least one punch, after screaming slurs at the two men.

Two independent witnesses testified earlier that they saw Knott strike Andrew Haught’s boyfriend, Zachary Hesse. In their testimony, Hesse said Knott shouted homophobic slurs at him and struck him, and Haught said he saw Knott swinging at Hesse before he was hit by Williams.

But she says she was trying to stop the fight so no one got hurt.

During closing arguments, Knott’s attorney Louis Busico urged the jury not to be distracted by Knott’s homophobic Twitter page, and frequent anti-gay Twitter rants, and he tried to distance Knott from the actions of Harrigan and Williams, both of whom he repeatedly criticized and blamed for the assault.

It was the other guys no matter what witnesses and the victim say.

Assistant District Attorney Mike Barry rightly called Knott's ALLEGED actions a hate crime, saying her Tweets show she shared the same hatred toward gay people displayed in the actions of Harrigan and Williams. He also questioned why four people — the two alleged victims and two independent witnesses — would say they saw a girl strike a man if it didn't happen.

"She walked away from this once. Do not let her walk away from this again." — Assistant District Attorney Mike Barry 

Barry also questioned the reliability of the four defense witnesses — who were among the gang of fifteen — who testified that it was Williams who hit Andrew Haught, but only once.

Funny, again, how that one punch broke a jaw and an eye socket.

Barry also pointed out that these four shared the same exact story, a year later, and only after Philip Williams took the deal.

But let’s talk about what Kathryn Knott said on the stand: she says she ran after Philip Williams — as seen in a video shown several times during the trial — saying she feared Williams would hit Haught. 

"I ran toward them because I wanted to make sure no one got hurt."

But she says she didn’t see the extent of the injuries that Haught sustained, and that he seemed fine, sitting on the ground, holding his bleeding head, his broken jaw. And so, Kathryn Knott and her friends did what normal people do after this kind of altercation: they moved on to another bar and some more drinks, leaving these two men in the street.

"The screams were loud. It was horrifying to see what was happening. I had never been in that type of situation in my entire life. It was scary."

And yet, this horrifying situation wasn’t enough for Kathryn Knott, who says she didn’t want to see anyone get hurt, to call the police, or even an ambulance; it was just enough to keep on partying.

In fact, neither Kathryn Knott, nor any of the fifteen asshats in her little band of thugs, contacted police until after the story broke, and after a video was released of all of them at the fight.

But she did find the time to text her father, a police chief in Bucks County, to say a fight occurred and that she would be home safe … the next morning; there was an Irish Pub she was headed to, for more alcohol.

And as for those Tweets, she did acknowledge that she posted them, and said she was offended by the public display of affection by a same-sex couple, not the sexuality of the couple; she says she hashtagged the Tweet #gay just for clarification. I wonder what the hashtag #ew meant? And she testified that she does not find gay people disgusting or use the term "dyke" every day. 

"What's said there wasn't demeaning toward anybody. I wasn't talking to anybody specific."

No, you weren’t, you idiot. You were talking about an entire group of people, like I’ll begin doing now when people act like morons in public and I’ll call them out for it and hashtag them #KathrynKnott; I’ll hashtag every fight, every gay bashing, every anti-gay slur I hear, #KathrynKnott.

Look, here’s the queer deal: Kathryn Knott clearly was involved in this mess; witnesses and victims says she was involved and why would they single her out of a group of fifteen others for no reason? It doesn’t make sense; she was there, she was probably drunk, and she, as the daughter of a police officer, who once, in another Tweet, praised her father for ticketing a man who ran her off the road, thought she could do whatever she pleased.

Should she be locked up? I say, Yeah, for a short while at least And then I’d make her do well over 200 hours of community service at an LGBT center and pay a rather hefty fine. And if there was a way to educate this fool — though I feel she’s already beyond education — I’d suggest that.

And keep her off Twitter. And out of bars.

Philly Voice

The First Two Days Of Kathryn Knott's Trial For Gay Bashing Were Brutal ... For Her

Y’all remember Kathryn Knott, the ALLEGED gay bashing daughter of a local police chief who is accused of using offensive slurs and physically assaulting a gay couple in Philadelphia in September 2014. Her two accomplices, Philip Williams and Kevin Harrigan, took a plea deal, but Know wanted her day in court and she’s getting it.

“You dirty fucking faggot. Is that your fucking boyfriend? Fucking faggot, fucking faggot, fucking faggot.”

That’s how Assistant D.A. Allison Ruth opened her case against Knott, recalling what witnesses say Kathryn Knott said to Andrew Haught and Zachary Hesse while they walked down a street.

And that was before she ALLEGEDLY physically assaulted Haught. Knott is charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and conspiracy.

Though Knott wasn’t responsible for the worst of the punches, Ruth said, she did “run toward the fight” and “she threw punches.”

Those punches ultimately resulted in one of the victims, Andrew Haught, having his eye socket broken and his jaw shattered. Then Ruth played the video showing the attack, followed by sharing a series of tweets grabbed from Knott’s now defunct Twitter page:

@krisssstenxoxo the ppl we were just dancing with just turned and mafe [sic] out with eatch [sic] other #gay #ew

jazz flute is for little fairy boys

My cab driver starting shouting some jihad shit so I starting singing America the beautiful #merrica.

@g0_nads he’s gonna rip me today for my hair..just wait. #dyke

this camo song is gay like all the other brad paisley songs

Then it was Knott’s attorney, Louis Busico’s turn, and he started off with a bang, putting his foot in his mouth by saying:

“At no point in time will one of the [prosecution’s] independent witnesses say she touched a soul.”

Oops; because later that same day an eyewitness actually said, on the stand and under oath, that Kathryn Knott did punch one of the victims and, afterwards, her friends all cheered. But Buscio also claimed that the “vile language” came not from Knott bit from her two cohorts in the attack. He then said she should not be made to pay for the actions of others — though why it's acceptable, if you believe Buscio or Knott, that she simply stood there with her friends and watched two men being beaten in the street and did nothing — and ended by calling her a “a wonderful human being.”

On Day Two it got even worse for Kathryn Knott. A bloody shirt was shown on the stand. One juror actually had to leave the courtroom after seeing photos showing the victims' injuries. And one of the victims testified.

Andrew Haught told jurors his face was broken in several places, and identified Knott as one of the attackers, saying,

"The girls especially were really intense, which I was really surprised about."

He went on to say his jaw had to be wired shut for eight weeks as a result of the attack, in which he says, Kathryn Knott participated.

And as if that wasn’t bad enough, an eyewitness, Michelle Moore testified that she saw the fight and stayed until police arrived:

"One [of the men] was on the ground with blood. I thought he was dead. The other was stumbling around like he was looking for something."

Knott’s attorneys then took Moore to task over discrepancies about the color of Knott’s dress that night. Moore testified that a [blonde] woman was punching a man on the ground. … It looked like she had a whitish and black dress."

Buscio says Haught had previously had testified that Knott was wearing a white dress.

That’s some discrepancy, though how it negates the fact that both Haught and Moore say Kathryn Knott was personally involved in the fight makes little sense. I mean, Andrew was being beaten by these three gay bashers and he’s expected to remember the dress exactly?

The trial continues this week and that “wonderful person” might be in for a rude awakening and some jail time.

LGBTQ Nation

6 ABC News

Kathryn Knott's Tweets Might Send Her To Jail

Remember Kathryn Knott? She was part of that trio of Philadelphia gay bashers who beat up a same-sex couple in Center City? And remember how her two cohorts took a plea deal and Knott refused?

Well, it’s not going to get easier for her now that a judge has decided that the anti-gay tweets Kathryn Knott posted to her Twitter account can be introduced at her assault trial next month.

She’ll have a hard time convincing anyone she isn’t a bigoted intolerant homophobe when she Tweeted these things:

krisssstenxoxo the ppl we were just dancing with just turned and mafe [sic] out with eatch [sic] other #gay #ew

jazz flute is for little fairy boys

@g0_nads he's gonna rip me today for my hair..just wait. #dyke

this camo song is gay like all the other brad paisley songs

During a pre-trial motions hearing, Michael Barry, chief of the District Attorney's Central Division, told the court that Knott had posted "a number of tweets which clearly indicate a general dislike to a disgust of gays and lesbians and people of other backgrounds" and said he wanted the Tweets admitted because "they are overwhelmingly relevant" and show a motive for her behavior on that night:

"She does not like gay people. This is why the fight happened … She’s one of the people who jumped in and joined the assault."

On September 11, 2014, Kathryn Knott was among a group of about 15 people who encountered Andrew Haught and Zachary Hesse on the street; Knott and others were accused of hurling anti-gay slurs at the couple and assaulting the two men during a fight.

Andrew Haught was punched about four times and put in a head lock before he fell to the ground, motionless and bleeding from his mouth. He spent five days in the hospital and his broken jaw was wired shut for several weeks. Zachary Hesse was punched in the face as well and suffered two black eyes and facial cuts.

Knott’s Co-defendants in Hate — Philip Williams and Kevin Harrigan — accepted plea deals to avoid trial: Williams plead guilty to aggravated assault and conspiracy and was sentenced to five years' probation, while Harrigan plead guilty to simple assault and conspiracy and was sentenced to three years' probation. Both were ordered to perform community service at an LGBT center, to stay away from Center City while on probation and to pay restitution.

Knott turned down any plea offer and opted to take her case to trial where her words will be used to prosecute her in court. In addition, the jury will hear from witnesses who say Kathryn Knott ran into the fight and even punched Hesse, while calling both men “faggot[s].”

Knott's attorney maintains that Knott didn't touch any of the victims and that she is not homophobic but …

Sticks and stones … and fists … may break their bones, but Kathryn Knott’s own words may send her to jail.

Philly.com

For Two Out Of Three Philly Gay Bashers, It's Crime and Very Little Punishment

I guess beating up a gay couple in Philadelphia doesn’t get you jail time, but it does keep you from going downtown …

Philip Williams and Kevin Harrigan, the two men who, along with Kathryn Knott, hurled anti-gay epithets, and then their fists, at Zachary Hesse and Andy Haught, a gay couple simply walking down a Philadelphia street, have taken a plea deal that says they must stay away from downtown Philadelphia, pay about a thousand dollars in restitution and perform 200 hours of service at a facility serving the LGBT community.

Williams can’t go downtown for five years, while Harrigan cannot return for three years, though they could be granted temporary exemptions to attend necessary appointments.

That’s punishment, Pennsylvania-style; yes, for beating a couple because they were gay — even though both Williams and Harrigan say they didn’t do it because the couple was gay — these two men simply have to stay out of downtown, pay a couple of bucks and sweep the floor at an LGBT community center. It sounds like they’re being grounded and having their allowance cut off.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see how many bigots and homophobes will now want to beat up a gay couple in Philadelphia if all they have to do is avoid the area for a few years.

Oh, and to be fair, Williams and Harrigan, who plead guilty to assault and conspiracy, did apologize to the victims, and the judge, in open court, though they still refuse to admit the beating wasn’t motivated by the couple’s sexual orientation. Huh; I guess they just wanted to beat up a couple of people for no reason then? And I guess that’s kind of okay?

Prosecutors say Hesse and Haught had wanted to resolve the issue quickly and avoid excessive punishment while sending a positive message about tolerance and understanding.

Wait … what? How is this slap on the wrist anything other than a get out of jail free card? How is it tolerant and understanding to beat up a couple of strangers, while calling them all kinds of homophobic names, and then letting them off this easy?

I guess I am not so tolerant and understanding because the sentence doesn’t fit the crime. Stay away from downtown? How is that going to be enforced? Are there ankle bracelets involved? And what happens if these two idiots break that part of the ruling? Jail? Do we just slap them on the wrist again?

This just screams to me that beating up a gay couple in Philadelphia isn’t a crime, but then maybe that’s the real truth since Pennsylvania’s Hate Crime law doesn’t cover sexual orientation so beating up a gay couple really isn’t that big a deal.

On the upside, that third defendant, Kathryn Knott, daughter of a police officer, refused the plea deal and will go to trial.

Maybe they’ll sentence her to staying away from her downtown hairdresser for five years.

That’ll show her.

LGBTQ Nation

Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott and Philip Williams ... Philadelphia Gay Bashers ... Comsider A Plea Deal

I didn’t say much about these three asshats when this story broke last year because, well, I am just disgusted by this kind of hateful, moronic, knuckle-dragging behavior, and I wanted to give it no space on ISBL.

Still, 10 months later and I’m still pissed so ….

Ten months ago; that’s when Bucks County, Pennsylvania residents Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott and Philip Williams were arrested for attacking two gay men, Zachary Hesse and Andrew Haught, in Philadelphia, just because they felt like it apparently, or just because it was a couple of queers so who cares, right? But their trial is coming up, so they’re back in the news and are apparently considering plea deals offered up by the Philadelphia DA’s office.

While Williams and Harrigan were allegedly the more physical aggressors — one victim had his jaw broken, as well as a couple of other bones, again, just for being gay — it was Kathryn Knott who got the most backlash because it was revealed that she is a homophobic, hate-filled, nearly illiterate fool on her Twitter feed.

Cameron Kline, of the Philadelphia District Attorney's Office, is not commenting on the plea offers but tells us that if these three asshats are convicted on all charges, they could face anywhere from 34 to 68 years in prison …

Good. Lock ‘em up. Make ‘em an example. Set the precedent that beating the crap out of a person, breaking bones, punching people in the face, simple because they’re gay is not acceptable. Maybe, if these three criminals get a stiff sentence, other might think twice before attacking someone on the street for no reason whatsoever.

And, yeah, I know the chances of any sentence being anywhere near 34 years will never happen, considering their violent attack on total strangers was their first offense. I would still love to see it happen.

I’ve said here on this bloggy thing a hundred times: if you beat up a man because you want his wallet, that’s a hateful crime; but if you beat up a man because he’s gay, that just Hate.

And we to stop tolerating it. I know Kevin Harrigan, Kathryn Knott and Philip Williams won’t get long sentences, but I hope they get some jail time; enough time to sit in their own little cubicle and ponder over how they got there.

Hate. That’s how.

Philly Mag