Miami Gardens man found not guilty in 2021 shooting of ex-girlfriend

A Miami Gardens man who shot his girlfriend multiple times nearly four years ago was found not guilty of attempted murder Friday, just days after his guilty plea in the case was withdrawn.

After a day of deliberations, a jury acquitted Gayle Blount in the May 2021 shooting of Bridget Knighton.

Knighton was shot at least five times and left with injuries across her body, needing more than 10 surgeries since the incident.

Blount's attorneys said justice was served in the case but Knighton was shocked by the outcome.

"Where in the world can somebody shoot you eight times as you sit on a sofa and be able to walk out the door?" Knighton said outside the courtroom. "I'm just, I'm in shock, I never thought this would happen, I gave the system a chance, this is the third time they let me down."

Bridget Knighton

Bridget Knighton

Blount took the stand at trial, telling jurors he shot her in self-defense inside a Miami Gardens apartment.

Blount said the couple was arguing because he turned the television on inside the bedroom. As a veteran, he claimed he needed to sleep with noise in the background, but Knighton supposedly got upset.

On Tuesday, Knighton testified and told jurors her ex was always aggressive and she wanted him out of the apartment.

Amid the arguing, Blount told jurors he shoved Knighton to the sofa to try and get her out of the way because she was preventing him from leaving. Blount claimed he wanted to leave the apartment because she had called the police.

However, Blount said he noticed Knighton reaching for her purse which he assumed might have a gun inside.

"I take out my gun and I shoot four or five times, pop-pop-pop," said Blount.

The "magic purse" as prosecutors referred to it during trial led to a very unusual moment in court where state attorneys were forced to apologize to the jury. Prosecutors had tried to claim there was never a purse with a gun. However, despite no second gun being found on scene, video of the crime scene shows a purse was present. 

"Either they didn’t care like the police, or they lied to you when Mrs. Jimenez came here and daggered him on the stand. When he told you the truth with his life online," defense attorney Mattew Rogoff said to jurors during closing arguments.  "What's that?" Rogoff said while pointing to a picture. "The purse with her firearm." 

In response, state attorney Mari Jimenez apologized, adding, "I did not remember or not seen that and I would tell you that obviously the purse was there."

It's unclear if the purse incident had any effect on the jury's decision. In addition to the attempted first-degree murder charge, jurors found Blount not guilty of shooting or throwing a deadly missile.

It was a shocking turn of events for Blount, who just last week pleaded guilty to the charges under a plea deal that would have given him a 20-year prison sentence.

But Knighton appeared in court and urged the judge to deny the deal because she wanted her shooter to spend at least 25 years in prison. 

Because Blount was not willing to accept 25 years, the judge allowed him to take back his guilty plea and head to trial.

The Miami-Dade State Attorney's Office released a statement later Friday on the verdict.

"While we are disappointed with the jury’s decision to acquit Gayle Blount in this attempted murder case, we respect their thoughtful decision knowing that they had thoughtfully weighed all the evidence and heard all the testimony, before arriving at their verdict," the statement said.