HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — A former magistrate judge in Pennsylvania convicted of shooting and wounding her ex-boyfriend in the head as he slept has been sentenced to 13 1/2 to 30 years in prison.
Sonya McKnight was convicted last month on attempted homicide and aggravated assault charges. She resigned her post during Wednesday's hearing, where the judge told her she was “totally without remorse” for the shooting.
McKnight has maintained her innocence, and her attorney said an appeal is ongoing.
The shooting occurred in February 2024 at the boyfriend’s home. McKnight had lived there, but the man repeatedly asked her to leave when their relationship ended, authorities said.
Prosecutors argued at trial that McKnight was a jealous partner who “didn’t like” that she had been asked to leave, but her attorney said the ex-boyfriend couldn’t identify the shooter. The ex-boyfriend testified that he couldn’t see after the shooting, but that McKnight was the only other person in the home at the time.
The jury deliberated for two hours before convicting McKnight on both counts she faced.
McKnight, who was elected judge in Dauphin County in 2015, had been suspended without pay in mid-November 2023 after the Court of Judicial Discipline, which handles misconduct allegations against judges, said she violated judicial probations from a previous case regarding a 2020 traffic stop involving her son. She was acquitted of criminal charges in that matter.
Local outlets reported she also shot and wounded her estranged husband in 2019. Prosecutors didn’t charge her, citing self-defense.
FILE - Former District Judge Sonya McKnight, who was accused of shooting her estranged boyfriend in the head as he slept, leaves the Susquehanna Twp. Police department, Feb. 15, 2024. (Sean Simmers/The Patriot-News via AP, File)
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Yaxzodara Lozada woke up Monday freezing after sleeping on the sidewalk outside a prison in Venezuela’s capital, hoping her husband, a police officer who was detained on Nov. 17, will walk free as part of a goodwill effort the government announced last week.
While Venezuelan commerce and daily life have begun to resume — with malls, schools and gyms reopening a week after a stunning U.S. attack led to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro — the promised release of imprisoned opposition figures, civil society leaders and journalists has materialized only in a trickle, prompting criticism.
Relatives of many of the more than 800 people that human rights organizations say are imprisoned in Venezuela for political reasons began gathering outside prisons Thursday, when the government of acting President Delcy Rodríguez pledged to free a significant number of prisoners in what it described as a gesture to “seek peace.” Officials have not identified or given a number of prisoners being considered for release, leaving rights groups scouring for hints of information and families to wait anxiously.
As of Monday afternoon, the Venezuelan advocacy group Foro Penal had verified the release of 49 prisoners. Among those confirmed freed were several foreign nationals holding Italian, Spanish, Argentine, Israeli and Colombian citizenship.
Also on Monday, the White House confirmed that Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado is set to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday.
Over the weekend, Trump said the releases came at Washington’s request.
“Venezuela has started the process, in a BIG WAY, of releasing their political prisoners,” Trump wrote Saturday on his Truth Social platform.
Others criticized the government for not fulfilling its promise of releasing a significant number of people.
On Monday, the U.N.-backed fact-finding mission on Venezuela welcomed the release of prisoners, but said in a statement that the amount of people released in recent days “falls far short” of the wider demand for the “immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners.”
Lozada said she had not seen her husband since he was detained on Nov. 17 — an arrest for which she says no reason was ever given.
Next to her, relatives of other detainees stretched and looked for water after spending the night on the ground, using old couch cushions and pieces of foam. In front of them, cars kept going by to drop off students at a school adjacent to the prison.
“These are two realities. They want the world to see that everything is normal, that nothing happened here,” said Jenny Quiroz, whose husband was detained Nov. 26 at his pharmacy in Caracas for allegedly criticizing the government in a WhatsApp group. “But it’s a mixture of anguish, despair…. You know what it’s like to have 48 days without knowing if he eats, if they have him isolated, if they are psychologically or physically torturing him?”
Quiroz said she wanted Trump to know that the information he is receiving regarding prison releases “is not 100% true.”
As relatives awaited news of their loved ones at prisons, the government deployed security forces to public schools around the country for the first day of classes since the holiday break. Uniformed students walked the streets of Caracas some alone and others accompanied by adults.
The Venezuelan government has tried to push forward a message of normalcy after the U.S. military operation that rocked the nation.
During a school tour broadcast on state television, acting President Rodríguez — surrounded by children — railed against the Trump administration while simultaneously striking an optimistic tone about the country’s future. She said her country is “actively resisting” the U.S. while “we’re writing a new page in Venezuelan history."
While teachers braced for questions from students about the Jan. 3 attack, preschool teacher Ángela Ramírez said the topic did not come up in her classroom.
“I didn’t address it because I didn’t notice the interest and a need in them to know what’s going on,” she said. “They are happy to be back at school."
Associated Press writer Megan Janetsky contributed from Mexico City.
Follow AP’s coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
A photo of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison a month after being arrested on accusations of treason, and his family adorns his coffin during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Emelyn Torres and Maria Cristina Fernandez, the sister and grandmother of Edilson Torres, a Venezuelan police officer who died in prison after being detained on accusations of treason, embrace during his wake at his home in Guanare, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Flor Zambrano, whose son, Rene Chourio, she says is detained at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police for political reasons, embraces relatives of other detainees outside the facility in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
A man sits on steps decorated with a mural representing the eyes of late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Children return to school after the holiday break in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Flor Zambrano, whose son, Rene Chourio, she says is detained at Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police for political reasons, embraces relatives of other detainees outside the facility in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Relatives of political detainees wait outside Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police after spending the night there in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
Relatives wait outside Zone 7 of the Bolivarian National Police, where political detainees are held, after spending the night there in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Jan. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos)
