Inset: Gayle Blount (Miami-Dade Department of Corrections). Screengrab: Bridget Knighton speaks about Blount’s alleged abuse (WPLG/YouTube).
A Florida judge on Monday was primed to sentence a 55-year-old man to 20 years in prison for allegedly shooting his ex-fiancee eight times as she lay on the couch. But then the judge heard the alleged victim’s testimony.
Bridget Knighton spoke of the “countless assaults” before the shooting, a courtroom report from Miami ABC affiliate WPLG stated. How the suspect, Gayle Blount, allegedly prevented her from answering the door when the cops would arrive during prior domestic violence incidents, threatening to blow her “brains out” if she “even uttered a sound.” The time he slammed her on a table full of dishes and food at Denny’s. All the times he ignored the restraining order, showing up at her apartment several times leading up to the shooting.
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“Those restraining orders are just a piece of paper,” Knighton reportedly said. “They don’t stop a bullet.”
In May 2021, Knighton was on her couch in her Miami Gardens apartment when Blount allegedly grabbed a gun from a car, barged into the home and shot her eight times. He reportedly told her “Look what you made me do.”
As a result, Knighton has had to undergo some 11 surgeries and suffers from other health problems. She also must walk with a cane.
Blount has sat in a Miami-Dade County jail cell for nearly four years. Last month Blount and prosecutors came to a plea deal where he would plead guilty to attempted murder in exchange for a 20-year prison sentence. But Knighton reportedly testified that she felt the punishment was not stiff enough for all the terror he allegedly put her through.
Miami-Dade Judge Ellen Sue Venzer agreed, throwing out the plea deal.
“I think that the idea here is that I would have to agree that that would be an appropriate sentence, and I don’t,” Venzer reportedly said.
And so Blount is headed to trial, now facing even more potential jail time than the 20 years.
Afterward, Knighton expressed her thanks to the judge.
“She saw somebody that is suffering and she said, ‘Enough.’” she reportedly told reporters. “So I thank her for being candid and human. Just human.”
