A former judge in Pennsylvania, aged 58, could face numerous years in prison for attempting to murder her ex-husband. She shot the 55-year-old man in the head while he was asleep in his residence the previous year, motivated by his desire to end their relationship.

On Wednesday, Dauphin County Senior Judge Howard Knisely sentenced Sonya McKnight to a term of 13 1/2 to 30 years in a state prison for the assault that resulted in Michael McCoy losing vision in one eye, according to court documents.

A jury last month found McKnight guilty on charges of attempted murder and aggravated assault over the 2024 shooting.

At the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, Judge Knisely remarked that McKnight showed “absolutely no remorse” for her actions against McCoy and believed she could evade justice by making the scene appear as though his injury was self-inflicted.

“These are actions of a calculating individual, like a scorned woman, hoping people would believe it was suicide,” he said, according to a report from The Patriot-News.

The sentence was on par with what prosecutors had requested and did not include leniency for mitigating circumstances.

“I don’t believe any of the mitigation you’ve heard apply to a case like this where you try to take a man’s life where he’s sleeping,” Cumberland County District Attorney Sean McCormack reportedly said during the hearing. “For what reason? Because he was ending a relationship.”

As Law&Crime previously reported, the shooting took place in the early morning hours of Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024, at McCoy’s home in the 200 block of Saddle Ridge Drive in Dauphin County.

“McKnight shot the victim in the head while the victim was sleeping in bed,” prosecutors wrote in a previous news release. “The bullet entered the right side of the victim’s face, traversed through his head in a straight line behind and slightly below his eyes and exited the left side of his face. The victim survived the gunshot wound but is blind in one eye as a result.”

Love true crime? Sign up for our newsletter, The Law&Crime Docket, to get the latest real-life crime stories delivered right to your inbox.

While the shooting took place in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania, the Cumberland County DA’s Office assumed jurisdiction of the investigation at the request of Dauphin County DA Fran Chardo. Chardo explained that his office had a conflict of interest and could not prosecute the case because McKnight was a magisterial district judge in the county.

Chardo had initially requested that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office take jurisdiction over the case, but the AG’s office also said it had a conflict of interest in prosecuting McKnight.

Court documents obtained by Harrisburg CBS affiliate WHP-TV provided additional details about the alleged shooting.

According to the report, McKnight and McCoy had been dating for about a year. McKnight had already moved into McCoy’s home when, on Feb. 4, McCoy decided to end their relationship. Despite McCoy asking McKnight several times to leave his home, she reportedly refused.

That same day, McCoy reportedly removed the key to his home from McKnight’s key ring even though most of her clothing and personal items were in the house.

When McCoy awoke the following morning, McKnight was gone, WHP reported. However, when he returned from work, McKnight had returned, telling him she had let herself in using the spare key.

The next few days were uneventful until McCoy went out to dinner at a restaurant on the evening of Feb. 9. He reportedly told police that he believed McKnight was following him, a suspicion police were allegedly able to confirm.

When he arrived home, McKnight was sleeping on the couch, and McCoy told her he planned to call her mother to assist him in getting her to leave, The Associated Press reported.

“Michael McCoy stated that it was like she finally understood that it was over,” police wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

McCoy said he went to sleep at about 11 p.m. and woke up shortly before 1 a.m. with “massive head pain” and began screaming because he couldn’t see, per the AP.

McKnight repeatedly asked, “Mike, what did you do to yourself?”

McKnight reportedly called 911 from McCoy’s phone and said she needed an ambulance because her “boyfriend” could not see. When questioned by the dispatcher, McKnight “could not explain what happened and stated that she was sleeping and heard him screaming,” the affidavit states.

McCoy had been shot in the right temple, and the bullet exited his left temple. He repeatedly told police and medical personnel, “I did not shoot myself,” WHP reported.

Forensic evidence reportedly revealed the shot came from about a foot away from McCoy’s head. McKnight allegedly had gunshot residue on her hand, and the firearm used in the shooting was registered to the judge.

McCoy was reportedly released from the hospital on Feb. 11, 2024.

McKnight was suspended without pay in 2023 from her role on the bench by the Court of Judicial Discipline over numerous allegations of misconduct, the AP reported. Among the findings, McKnight reportedly directed her staff to ignore a claim against her from another woman who claimed McKnight owed her $2,100 from a loan McKnight refused to repay.

In 2019, McKnight shot her estranged husband in the groin. However, no charges were filed, and she was cleared of wrongdoing after investigators determined that she had acted in self-defense.

‘