Sentencing set for woman in Center City attack on gay couple

 Kathryn Knott (center) exits the criminal justice center with her family and supporters after closing arguments. Knott is scheduled to be sentenced Monday (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

Kathryn Knott (center) exits the criminal justice center with her family and supporters after closing arguments. Knott is scheduled to be sentenced Monday (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)

A judge will decide Monday on the punishment for a Bucks County woman convicted in the assault of a gay couple in Center City in 2014.

But since the jury dropped the most serious charge she was facing, Kathryn Knott will not be sentenced on any felonies.

Prosecutors say the maximum punishment she could face is four to eight years behind bars for simple assault, reckless endangerment and conspiracy.

Knott and two others beat two men, leaving one with a broken jaw, after hurling homophobic slurs at them.

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The two other assailants who were charged took plea deals, but Knott fought her charges.

In December, Assistant District Attorney Mike Barry said the two victims were happy with the conviction.

“These are people who didn’t ask to be the center of something that everyone was watching. They were just trying to go home. And that’s still what they’ve been trying to do. To go home from this. To have it be over with,” Barry said.

Witnesses said up to 15 people may have been involved in the attack, but prosecutors could only build evidence against three.

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