Philadelphia

No Verdict for Woman Charged in Group Attack on Gay Couple

A Philadelphia jury has spent several hours deliberating without reaching a verdict for a young woman charged in an attack on two gay men.

The jury has reviewed video and photos of the scene after getting the assault and conspiracy case midday Wednesday.

They are set to return Thursday to weigh the charges against 25-year-old Kathryn Knott of Southampton, Bucks County.

Knott, the daughter of a suburban police chief, is charged with taking part in an attack that left one man hospitalized with a broken jaw. Knott has told jurors that she never shouted slurs or threw a punch in the violent assault last year. Two co-defendants are on probation after pleading guilty.

Several witnesses say Knott is the woman in the white dress who threw a punch during the group attack.

Prosecutors say her earlier tweets show she hated gays.

"This was a hate crime," Assistant District Attorney Michael Barry said in his closing remarks Tuesday, after the jury saw tweets in which Knott used anti-gay language to describe a bad hair day or lame song. "She can't help herself. It's bubbling right below the surface. ... It shows she shares the state of mind with her co-conspirators."

Knott, in her testimony, was also forced to explain tweets about being banned from a bar, kicking down a door during a police raid with her father, and having him track down and ticket a driver who ran her off the road. She said she did not remember why she was thrown out of the bar in Hilton Head, South Carolina.

"I was in college on spring break and it was a poor decision," she said of posting the tweet.

Knott, of Southampton, Bucks County, lost her job at a hospital following her arrest. She remains free on bail. 

Weeks after the attack, the city amended its hate crime laws to include sexual orientation.

City leaders have since expanded their hate crime law to include sexual orientation.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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