Pennsylvania Judge Sonya McKnight Shot Ex-Boyfriend While He Slept, Police Say

Sonya McKnight is a suspended magisterial district judge in Pennsylvania who is accused of shooting her ex-boyfriend in the face while he slept in bed.

It’s the second time in five years that she’s shot a man, although the first shooting was ruled self-defense, according to PennLive.

The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania refers to her as Magisterial District Judge Sonya McKnight on its website.

However, she was already suspended after a series of accusations, including granting employees unauthorized vacation days, an inappropriate Facebook post, and interfering with a police traffic stop involving her son, court orders on that website say.

Here’s what you need to know:

1. Judge Sonya McKnight Is Accused of Blinding Her Ex-Boyfriend in the Eye

McKnight blinded her ex-boyfriend in one eye as a result of the shooting, according to ABC27. She is accused of shooting the man “in the head while he was sleeping in bed,” the Cumberland County district attorney told ABC27. The AP gave the ex-boyfriend’s name as Michael McCoy.

According to ABC27, McKnight is accused of “shooting her ex-boyfriend in the face” and is charged with attempted murder in the first degree and aggravated assault.

The television station reported that, according to court documents, McKnight is accused of calling 911 and saying her boyfriend was unable to see. He had recently ended their year-long live-in relationship, ABC27 reported, and the ex-boyfriend had “attempted to have McKnight leave multiple times and removed his house key from her key ring, but McKnight continued coming to the home and used a spare key to get inside.”

When he returned from work, she was in the house and wouldn’t leave, the television station reported, adding that eventually, the man went to sleep before waking up to severe head pain. It was determined the man was shot in the head, ABC27 reported.

2. Sonya McKnight Was Previously Accused of Shooting Her Husband in the Groin

According to PennLive, it’s the second time that McKnight has shot a man in five years.

She previously was cleared in 2019 after “shooting her estranged husband in the groin, which investigators ruled was self-defense.”

PennLive reported that Enoch McKnight recovered from his injuries. She was a judge at the time.

The husband said McKnight had accused him of being a “cheater,” according to PennLive.

3. Sonya McKnight Defeated a Democratic Incumbent in a 2015 Primary

According to Ballotpedia, Sonya Baltimore McKnight ran “unopposed in the general election.”

She defeated incumbent Robert Jennings III in the Democratic primary in 2015, Ballotpedia reported.

She received 52.2% of the vote, according to Ballotpedia.

4. Judge Sonya McKnight Was Suspended After a Series of Accusations Involving Vacation Days, Not Showing Up for Court & More

MugshotJudge Sonya McKnight.

On September 6, 2023, the Judicial Conduct Board filed a series of charges against her.

The Board sought revocation of a previous probationary term imposed on her and an interim suspension pending disposition of the complaint.

She was accused of telling four members of her staff that they could take four extra vacation days without utilizing their earned leave. She “gifted” them the leave, the order says.

“Judge McKnight’s granting of unearned vacation leave constitutes theft,” it says.

She had previously been suspended from her duties as a judge from February 9, 2021, through August 18, 2021, and returned to the bench on August 19, 2021, the order says.

The complaint says a woman claimed McKnight owed her $2,073 for an unpaid loan. “Judge McKnight advised her then Office Manager, Georgette Potts, to act like the complaint was never received,” the order says.

The complaint makes a series of other complaints including that McKnight maintained a Facebook page called “Sonya Marie” that contains pictures of her in her judicial robe and a picture of a product called “X-it Red.”

She then urged people to purchase the product, the order says. She was accused of abusing the prestige of her office “by soliciting sales of a product for financial gain on a social media account that clearly identified her as a Magisterial District Judge,” says the complaint. She also had unexplained absences for night court,” it says.

5. Judge Sonya McKnight Was Previously Accused of Interfering With a Police Investigation Into Her Son

According to a different order, on February 8, 2021, the Judicial Conduct Board filed a petition involving a traffic stop of McKnight’s son.

She had asked to be placed in a diversion program. The order says McKnight has been a judge since 2016.

At 2 a.m. on February 22, 2002, a Harrisburg police officer “initiated a pursuit of a vehicle in which the driver was 31-year-old Kevin Baltimore,” that petition says.

He stopped his vehicle along a street at a location within her district and placed a telephone call to McKnight, his mother, the petition says.

While investigating, police learned there was an active arrest warrant for Baltimore and found crack cocaine, a scale, and a “stack of cash” in his vehicle and on his person, it says.

McKnight drove to the scene of the traffic stop and placed a phone call to Thomas Carter, the Commissioner of the Harrisburg Police Department on his personal cell phone, it says. She told Carter that his “police officers pulled her son over in an illegal traffic stop,” the petition says. She went to the scene and walked up to police officers “in a very demanding and agitated manner,” it says.

She asked why her son was in handcuffs and why an officer was “going through his pockets,” according to the petition, which also accuses McKnight of yelling at police officers and speaking to officers in a “demanding and intimidating” tone. She also entered her son’s vehicle, the petition says.

As a result of their efforts to hurry through the investigation, officers “failed to properly search Baltimore and transported him to the county booking center with a razor blade in his pocket,” the petition says.

The Attorney general charged her with tampering with evidence and obstructing administration of law and official oppression, the petition says. She was acquitted of criminal charges, Daily Mail reported.

She was ordered suspended without pay for 200 days.

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