February 6, 2015
Accused Philly Gay Bashers Return to Court
Jason St. Amand READ TIME: 2 MIN.
Two men and a woman accused of beating a gay couple in Philadelphia in September in an alleged hate crime returned to court Thursday, EPGN.com reports.
Kevin Harrigan, Philip Williams and Kathryn Knott appeared at the Criminal Justice Center for a pre-trial conference on Feb. 5. The hearing resulted in the trio being scheduled to return for a pretrial on March 12.
"Today was just a status of discovery," assistant district attorney Michael Barry told EPGN.com. "They take a couple listings to make sure everybody have the same paperwork. We still have to pass a few more videos that weren't copied but nothing major, so it got another date."
The three suspects face aggravated and simple assault, conspiracy and reckless endangerment charges for the attack on couple Zachary Hesse and Andrew Haught on Sept. 11, 2014.
During the March 12 pretrial, a defendant will most likely either accept a plea deal or be scheduled for a trial, EPGN.com writes.
"At this time there have been no plea discussion," Barry said. "After it leaves here it will go to a trial room, where we will pick a date."
The incident in question gained national attention last year. The Associated Press reported at the time that Hesse and Haught were walking in Philadelphia's gay neighborhood tony Rittenhouse on the night of Sept. 11, 2014 when they came across a group of eight to 10 young adults. One of them allegedly hurled anti-gay slurs towards the couple and asked if they were gay. Hesse, 28, said he was attacked, pushed back and was hit in the face. The group then allegedly attacked Haught and he was left with a broken jaw and cheekbones.
Harrigan, 26, Williams, 24 and Knott, 24, surrendered to police in September soon after they were charged for the beating.
The media focused on Knott as she reportedly has a history of making unsavory comments and anti-gay remarks on social media. Not long after she was charged with the crimes, Knott, who is the daughter of a Pennsylvania police chief, was fired from her hospital job because of the crime and the alleged remarks on her social media accounts.
