Philly judge to consider changing sentence in attack on gay couple

A judge has agreed to hear arguments on changing a five- to 10-month jail sentence imposed on a suburban police chief’s daughter in a group attack on a gay couple that prompted Philadelphia to add sexual orientation to its hate crime laws.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a March 8 hearing is scheduled on the resentencing motion on behalf of 25-year-old Kathryn Knott.

Defense attorney William Brennan has called Knott’s sentence “excessive.” He says she should get probation, as did two co-defendants, and suggested that she do a public service announcement on tolerance.

Jurors convicted Knott of simple assault and three other misdemeanors in the September 2014 attack, which occurred as she and her friends from suburban Bucks County were celebrating a birthday in downtown Philadelphia.

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