Testimony from victim shot eight times leads judge to strip plea deal of accused shooter
A Miami Gardens man with a history of arrests for mostly violent domestic incidents accepted a plea deal two weeks ago that would have sent him to prison for two decades for shooting his girlfriend eight times. Monday morning, after heart-wrenching testimony from the victim who four years later still walks with the aide of a cane, the agreement unraveled.
Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Ellen Sue Venzer said there were elements of the violence and shooting surrounding the relationship that she only learned of when Bridget Knighton spoke in court. The judge then vacated Gayle Blount’s guilty plea, set jury selection for Tuesday and said trial would begin as soon as next Monday.
“I was not aware that this was the background and that the victim was not comfortable with 20 years,” Venzer said.
Blount’s defense attorney argued, unsuccessfully, that he needed more than 24 hours to prepare for trial. Up until almost two weeks ago, Blount had turned down attempts to reach a deal on his sentencing. It was only when the state said it was prepared to go to trial, that he changed his mind and accepted the plea.
A jury trial could be a risky move for Knighton. A 20-year prison sentence would have kept Blount, who is 56, behind bars until he was at least 76. Now —if he’s found guilty — a judge could sentence him to anywhere between 12 years and life. He’s facing charges of first-degree attempted murder with a deadly weapon, throwing a deadly missile and violating a domestic violence injunction.
‘He shot me with a Glock 40 eight times as I waited for police’
Prior to Venzer’s decision, Knighton spent about 20 minutes voicing her displeasure with the agreement and told the judge that Blount consistently ignored stay-away orders and battered and threatened her for four years, before finally shooting her in his Miami Gardens home in May 2021, after she called the police.
The officers who responded to the home said in Blount’s arrest report that they heard several gunshots as they neared the apartment and found Knighton in critical condition on the floor before she was air-lifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center. She was shot in the legs, stomach and back.
“He always found me. I was embarrassed, isolated and without hope,” Knighton told the judge. “I came to the conclusion that nobody was going to help me but the Lord.”
Knighton said the beatings began when the couple started dating in early 2017. She said Blount insisted on sleeping with an AR-15 between them in bed and the only reason she stayed with him was because the stay-away orders didn’t work and he continually threatened to harm her grandchildren. On the day of the shooting, she said he found her journal and returned to the home three times.
“He shot me with a Glock 40 eight times as I waited for police,” Knighton said.
She was in the hospital for almost two months and has undergone 11 surgeries. Speaking before media in the hallway outside of Judge Venzer’s sixth floor chamber in the criminal courthouse, her lips quivered.
“I don’t know a day without pain,” she said.
Blount has been arrested at least 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 3, 2025 at 2:57 PM.
