ISLE OF WIGHT, Va. (WAVY) — A grandmother from Isle of Wight County who stabbed and killed her son-in-law in January 2022 has been found guilty of voluntary manslaughter.
The jury needed about three hours Thursday afternoon to convict Theresa Knightnor in the death of her son-in-law Maurice Doctor. Knightnor was charged with first degree murder, and the jury also considered second degree murder.
The fatal stabbing happened at a home on Smith Neck Road in Carrollton on Jan. 20, 2022.
Deputies found the 54-year-old Doctor with a stab wound to his upper back at the scene, where he was pronounced dead.
Court testimony showed Doctor had cocaine in his system as well as one-and-a-half times the legal limit for alcohol. He got into an argument with his 14-year-old son and had threatened to kill him or break his jaw.
Knightnor said when she grabbed the kitchen knife she was only defending her grandson.
She said it was an accident, but Deputy Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Edwards said the deep wound she caused — going through muscle, bone and into Doctor’s lung — was no accident, and told the jury that it must have been a two-handed deliberate blow.
“The way I demonstrated (to the jury in his closing argument) is the way that makes by far the most sense to me,” Edwards said following the verdict. “I really can’t conceive of having it any other way. I’m not a juror and I’m not complaining about the decision they made.”
Defense attorney Mufeed Said used his last chance to sway the jury from a murder conviction by pointing out that Knightnor had no blood on her, that Doctor was trying to choke his son, and that Doctor’s death was awful and tragic, but was a “horrible accident.”
The jury settled on voluntary manslaughter — a deliberate act, but without malice.
“Their finding of the manslaughter conviction was, I believe, their theory was that there was the heat of passion which negated the malice,” said Commonwealth’s Attorney Georgette Phillips.
Edwards said based on his experience with farm animals, the depth of the wound proved it was not an accident.
“One thing that could not come out in court as it wasn’t evidence,” Edwards said, “I’ve killed a lot of hogs, and it takes a lot of pressure with a knife to make a wound like that. That wasn’t a pin prick.”
Knightnor’s sentencing is set for March 27. The 69-year old grandmother faces from one to 10 years in prison.
