Circuit Judge Bob Helfrich sentenced William Jeffrey Knight to 95 years day-for-day, after Knight was found guilty by a jury on October 12th on Child molestation and exploitation charges. Knight was originally arrested by the Petal Police Department on a Child Pornography charge back in November of 2019. After a thorough investigation by Petal Lt. Sammy Ray, the DA’s office presented the case to a grand jury, which indicted Knight on the three following felony charges:
- Count 1: Exploitation of a Child
- Count 2:Exploitation of a Child
- Count 3: Touching of a Child for Lustful Purposes
Knight served over 20 years in local law enforcement at multiple police agencies, and at the time of his 2019 arrest, Knight was serving as an MDOC officer.
Forrest County District Attorney said of the conviction,
“I would like to recognize Lt. Sammy Ray of the Petal Police Department and Special Agent in Charge Wayne Cantrell from the Mississippi Digital Forensic Laboratory in assisting on this case. I would also like to thank Assistant District Attorneys Becky Denham and James Lane for their hard work securing these convictions at trial. No one is above the law. Hopefully this verdict and sentence will help our victims feel that they received Justice.”
Knight was covered extensively on HPNM. Pretrial video, along with trial video, are available for viewing under the Subscriptions tab on the Facebook Page. You can become a subscriber by clicking here.Â