Rosemary and Kimberley Lewis were on their way back home to Kentucky after they spent much of the past week in 27th District Court hearing evidence a jury used to convict Ms. McKnight on a murder charge.
Ms. McKnight still maintained her innocence after receiving the sentence, according to her attorney Michael White. She was convicted Wednesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Jameisha, but testified that her daughter had actually been killed by her then 17-year-old sister, who was in the house when the incident happened.
“I cannot tell you what my family has been through in the past year and a half,” said Mrs. Lewis in a written statement. “To my daughter Kahtisha, I love you and want you to know I’m still here when you need me.”
It took the jury two hours and 40 minutes to reach the decision, which concluded the four-day trial.
White said the two things that hurt his client the most were her lack of emotion and her changing stories about what happened to her daughter to cause the death. He said he told McKnight heading into the trial that those would be two major obstacles for the jury to get over.
“Officer Griffin (a Killeen police officer who testified in the case) had more emotion than my client,” he said. “Even as reserved as she was, she showed more emotion in the trial than during the whole 18 months I’ve represented her. And I think it was genuine.”
The jury’s sentence of life was what prosecutors had requested.
Prosecutor Kara Schneible described Ms. McKnight as a monster who lived in a house with children. Jameisha died from blunt force trauma to the head and had bruises all over her torso that her mother admitted came from beatings she had given the child.
White did not recommend a sentence to the jury. He simply told them to do what they believed was right. He talked about posttraumatic stress and postpartum depression and suggested that Ms. McKnight may have been suffering from both at the time her daughter was killed.
“It’s not an excuse,” he said. “It may be an explanation, but it’s not an excuse.”
Before deliberating, the jury listened to prosecutor Mike Waldman argue for a life sentence. He began his remarks by talking about the Lewis family and the strength they showed by testifying in the trial. Ms. McKnight’s mother and sister both received subpoenas in the case.
“They’re going to get through this but they’re not going to get Jameisha back,” he said. “There are no winners in a case like this.
“She (Ms. McKnight) broke an unspeakable oath that daughters have to moms and sisters have with each other. Let your verdict here speak of justice to others.”
Waldman said a capital murder charge was not considered in the case because the evidence did not show intent to kill.
Months ago prosecutors offered Ms. McKnight a plea bargain that called for a 25-year prison sentence, White said.
“I informed her that the 25 years offered by the state was reasonable,” he said.
A person sentenced to life in prison is eligible for parole after 30 years.
