Attempted murder trial of man accused of shooting girlfriend begins after plea deal tossed
Bridget Knighton “tortured” her boyfriend so severely for waking her up and for taking too long to pick up car parts, that he had no choice but to shoot her out of fear she was reaching for her gun, Gary Blount’s attorney said during opening statements of his clients attempted murder trial Tuesday.
Her gun was never found. And Knighton, shot in her legs, survived. She was hospitalized for almost two months after the shooting and has had 11 surgeries. She still suffers from debilitating injuries four years later.
“Mr. Blount believed she was going for that firearm,” defense attorney Jonathan Jordan told the jury. “He’s trained in firearms. This is not an attempted murder case. He needed to save his own life and that’s what he did.”
Last week Blount, 55, a trucker who spent time in Iraq with the military police, agreed to spend 20 years in prison for shooting Knighton, his girlfriend of four years. But Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ellen Sue Venzer quashed the deal at the last minute, saying she was unaware of the violence in the couple’s relationship and of some of the elements surrounding the shooting.
The judge vacated the guilty plea and ordered the trial to begin this week after Knighton explained how Blount had been serially beating her and ignoring restraining orders.
In a brief opening statement Tuesday, Miami-Dade Assistant State Attorney Matthew Mcvea said cops arriving at Blount’s Miami Gardens apartment heard bursts before they got inside, but weren’t sure if they were gunshots or fireworks. When they were unable to get in the front door, they looked through a side window and saw Knighton “all alone in a pool of blood bleeding out.”
Alam told jurors how Knighton tried to kick Blount out of his apartment the night of the shooting and called the police.
“He got a gun and started pacing in the hallways,” McVea said.
A jury trial could be risky for Blount , who with the plea agreement would have been in prison until he was 75. But now facing charges of first-degree attempted murder, throwing a deadly missile and violating a domestic violence injunction, Blount could be sentenced to between 12 years and life in prison if found guilty.
Victim says beatings began early on
Knighton told the judge how the beatings began when the couple started dating in early 2017 and that no matter where she went, he was always able to find her. She said Blount insisted on sleeping with an AR-15 between them in bed. And she said the only reason she stayed with him was because he threatened to harm her grandchildren.
On the day of the shooting, she said he found her journal and that he left and returned to the home three times.
Without explaining what was in the journal, Blount’s attorney said police took pictures of its last pages before it somehow disappeared. He told jurors they’ll soon learn what were written down on those page.
State court records show Blount has been arrested seven times in South Florida on charges of kidnapping, aggravated battery, aggravated stalking, domestic battery and attempted murder. Most of the charges were dropped.
This story was originally published February 11, 2025 at 4:43 PM.
