Whatcom County jury to decide whether Everson man shot, killed father in self-defense
Defense attorneys for a 23-year-old Everson man accused of shooting and killing his father two years ago painted a picture of escalating violence in the home in the months and hours before the shooting that ended in a split-second life-or-death moment where the man had to defend both himself and his mother with a gun, ultimately resulting in his father’s death.
Opening statements began Thursday, Feb. 29, in the premeditated first-degree murder (domestic violence) trial for Ethan Michael Knight in Whatcom County Superior Court.
Prosecutors originally charged Ethan Knight on Jan. 11, 2022, with second-degree murder (domestic violence) for the Jan. 6, 2022 death of his 46-year-old father, Michael Knight. Ethan Knight’s charges were upgraded in November 2022 to first-degree murder (domestic violence) after further investigation found cellphone video footage of the shooting that prosecutors say undercuts the argument that he was fighting off a drunken attack from his father, The Bellingham Herald previously reported.
The first-degree murder charge, which alleges Ethan Knight acted with premeditated intent, includes aggravating factors for allegedly committing the crime against a family or household member and while armed with a firearm, according to court records. The aggravating factors carry additional mandatory prison time if he is convicted.
Ethan Knight pleaded not guilty to the amended charges Nov. 16, 2022. He has been out of custody since late January 2022, after his mother posted a $25,000 cash bond for him. The court previously reduced Ethan Knight’s bail from $1 million down to $250,000 with a $25,000 cash alternative, after his public defense attorneys said no danger existed of him committing a violent crime if released, The Herald previously reported.
Defense opening
Ethan Knight’s defense team, which consists of Starck Follis, Director of the Whatcom County Public Defender’s Office, and Maialisa Vanyo, chief deputy with the public defender’s office, are arguing that Ethan Knight acted in self-defense when he shot and killed his father in January 2022. They say it was justifiable homicide.
“Ethan Knight was afraid of his father. He responded to a deadly situation to defend himself and his mother. Ethan is innocent,” Vanyo said Thursday during her opening statements in court. “Ethan used deadly force only after his father aimed the gun at him. Ethan’s father, Michael Knight, was drinking, threatening and could not be reasoned with.”
Vanyo told the jury that Michael Knight had recently come back into the family’s life and was attempting to rekindle a relationship with them after moving out of state in 2014. She said there was a history of violence in the home, in which Michael Knight is accused of assaulting Ethan Knight and his mother.
“The family knew how unpredictable and violent Michael could be,” Vanyo said.
Beginning in spring 2021, Michael Knight started staying with the family, sometimes for weeks at a time. Vanyo said the jury is expected to hear testimony that there was hope for reconciliation, but that nothing had changed about Michael Knight except his drinking, which was daily and sometimes included a full half gallon of vodka. Both Ethan Knight and his mother had seen Michael Knight “snap in recent months. They both witnessed his violence and his relentlessness” prior to the shooting, she said, adding that there were several incidents in 2021 in which Michael Knight was drinking and became violent.
“You’ll hear (from family members) about the abuse, the abandonment, the violence, the threats, the fear and the chaos that Michael Knight brought into their lives for years,” Vanyo told the jury.
Ethan Knight’s father assaulted him twice the night of Jan. 6, 2022. Michael Knight was drinking vodka, had failed to make the family a pot roast dinner, and was “behaving badly,” Vanyo said. Ethan Knight’s mother had to stop working in an attempt to calm her ex-husband down.
The family had previously gotten into an argument over the amount of pizza Ethan Knight had taken during dinner that night and his lack of employment. Michael Knight decided he wanted to confront his son, and went into his bedroom, where he was sleeping. Ethan Knight fled to his mother’s room, where he asked his mother to tell his father to leave him alone, before going back to bed, Vanyo said.
It was at this point that Ethan Knight’s 14-year-old brother heard the argument, left the home and walked in the snow to a nearby friend’s house — something he often did when Michael Knight was angry and drinking, she said.
Vanyo said Ethan Knight went back to bed, closed his door, put his 40-caliber Glock-style handgun under his pillow and “hoped that his father would leave him alone.” But Michael Knight came back into his son’s bedroom and pinned him down on the bed.
“Ethan knew from experience that his father could become irrational and violent when drinking. Ethan knew from experience that his father could hurt him. Ethan knew he had to get away from his dad,” Vanyo told the jury.
Ethan Knight grabbed his gun and fled to his mother’s room. His father followed, and the three began arguing. Vanyo said Ethan Knight saw his mother’s cellphone and started recording, because he “wanted police to hear what was happening.”
Sixteen minutes elapse from the start of the recording to when law enforcement arrive at the house to find Michael Knight dead.
Vanyo told the jury they would hear on the seven minute and 56 second-long recording Ethan Knight tell his father he doesn’t want to shoot him, that both he and his mother want Michael Knight to leave, and that Michael Knight would end up arrested or shot if he didn’t.
Michael Knight responded by saying he was going to teach Ethan Knight a lesson, that he’d learn how to be a “Knight man” and that the situation was between only the two of them, Vanyo said.
Michael Knight then came at Ethan Knight and his mother, and Ethan Knight responded by pushing his father into a nightstand. Michael Knight grabbed a Colt 1911 handgun out of the nightstand drawer, while Ethan Knight told his mother to call 911, Vanyo said.
Michael aimed the gun at Ethan Knight, who yelled at his mother to get down. Ethan Knight then fired four shots at his father — two of which hit him, one that hit the family dog standing behind him and another that lodged itself into the bedroom wall.
Ethan Knight’s mother was convinced they were all going to die, while Ethan Knight believed his father was going to shoot him, Vanyo said.
“It was truly a life or death moment,” she told the jury Thursday.
Ethan Knight then made both his gun and his father’s gun safe, while his mother called the police. Once police arrived, Ethan Knight and his mother “show them the guns and tell them exactly what happened,” Vanyo said.
Ethan Knight, his mother and his two brothers are all expected to testify in his murder trial.
Prosecution opening
Prosecutors are arguing a very different situation unfolded the evening of Jan. 6, 2022.
They say that Ethan Knight brought a loaded handgun into an argument with his father, that he told his father he would kill him if he didn’t leave, and that he then followed through on those threats.
“This case is about 7 minutes and 56 seconds. And in those 7 minutes and 56 seconds that will become the most important piece of evidence in this case, you’re going to hear exactly what happened to Michael Knight on Jan. 6, 2022. You’re going to hear the argument between him, Ethan and his mother. You’ll hear the defendant, what he wanted to do to his dad, what he was going to do to his dad if he didn’t get his way. … You’re going to hear those shots fired in rapid succession by Ethan that killed Michael. And you’re going to hear the chilling last words of a man who realized he was about to be murdered by his own son,” senior deputy Whatcom County prosecuting attorney Kacie Emerick said Thursday during her opening statements. “This case is about 7 minutes and 56 seconds.”
Emerick said Michael Knight was living and working in the Federal Way/Tacoma area after moving back to the state in 2021. She said he was attempting to re-establish a relationship with his sons.
“He was a heavy drinker. He was obnoxious. In fact, he was best described by (Ethan’s mother) as usually harmless but annoying,” Emerick said. “He was a flawed individual, but he didn’t deserve to be murdered.”
Emerick said Ethan Knight was living with his mother and younger brother at the family home in Everson in early 2022. Ethan Knight did not have a job at the time, which frustrated his mother who was attempting to motivate him, Emerick said. Michael Knight was attempting to do the same, she said.
Michael Knight had traveled to Everson in December 2021 to celebrate the holidays with the family, but his car broke down, which was why he was still at the family home in early January 2022, Emerick said.
Sometime in the evening of Jan. 6, 2022, Michael Knight put a pizza in the oven for dinner. Ethan Knight took half of the pizza, which resulted in an argument breaking out among the family, Emerick said.
Later that night, Michael Knight attempted to have a conversation with his son about getting a job, but Ethan Knight didn’t want to have that conversation and asked his mother to tell Michael Knight to stop bothering him, Emerick said.
Around 11:28 p.m., Ethan Knight started a video recording on his mother’s cellphone and placed the phone face down on a desk in his mother’s bedroom. It’s around this time that Ethan Knight also brought his loaded 40-caliber Glock-style handgun into the bedroom, with his father following behind him, Emerick said.
By 11:36 p.m., Michael Knight is shot dead. He’s shot directly in his left eye. The bullet hits his brain stem, killing him instantly. He’s also shot in his torso, which exits his body and hits his leg, Emerick said. The family dog, Moose, is also shot in the back, and a fourth shot hits the wall behind where Michael Knight was standing, she said.
Emerick told the jury they would also hear the 911 call that Ethan Knight’s mother made, in which she tells a dispatcher that her son shot his father, her ex-husband, in self-defense.
“Law enforcement responds to the scene with medic bags in hand, believing they’re about to assist in a gunshot wound and prepare for medics to arrive. What unfolds is much different,” Emerick said.
The scene in the home is chaotic, Emerick said, and Ethan Knight’s mother is physically upset and crying, while Ethan Knight is calm and collected. His gun is sitting on the dining room table, with the magazine out and the bullet removed from the chamber, she said.
Ethan Knight told police he shot his father in self-defense after his father pulled a gun on him. That gun is in the bathroom, with the magazine still in it and no bullet in the chamber, Emerick said.
Law enforcement determined that only Ethan Knight’s weapon was fired. Four shots were fired from the handgun, and all four shell casings were found in his mother’s bedroom.
“You’ll be presented testimony from numerous law enforcement officers who dissected this video, who interviewed witnesses and investigated this case from every angle. Defense has told you already that this was done in self-defense, so the story that must be told after the shooting is that Michael was armed with a firearm. The state expects the evidence to contradict that,” Emerick said.
Emerick told the jury that they will hear evidence that Ethan Knight’s mother was interviewed several times, but that in each interview she tells a different story and that little details are changed. She said key pieces of information and evidence will be contradicted by those various interviews and the recording of the shooting itself.
Emerick told the jury that what they don’t hear on the recording is just as important as what they do hear. At no point during the 7 minute and 56 second recording is it mentioned or is a reference made to Michael Knight having a gun. There is no audio of him loading a gun or him threatening to kill Ethan Knight and his mother, Emerick said.
But the jury will hear Ethan Knight tell his father that the only way he won’t end up shot or in jail is for him to turn around and leave the family home. Just prior to the shooting, Ethan Knight again tells his father that he’s going to die if the cops don’t show up. Emerick said.
She said Michael Knight continuously told his son to put the gun down, that eventually Ethan Knight’s mother turns her focus to her son and tries to get him to leave the room, and that Michael Knight becomes emotional before speaking his last words.
“Ethan gave his dad an ultimatum to leave, without a car and in treacherous weather, or else he would be shot, because his dad was pestering him and he didn’t like that,” Emerick said. “Ethan said that his dad will get shot if he doesn’t do what he wants, if he doesn’t stop pestering him. Michael continues to pester him. So Ethan does exactly what he says, exactly what he wants to do — he shoots his dad, he kills his dad — not out of fear, but annoyance.”
Emerick said prosecutors will present evidence that show Ethan Knight walked into his mother’s room with a loaded firearm, that he intended to kill his father, that he announced that intention on video and that he then shot and killed his father.
The video, Emerick said, will show “the impossibility of Michael ever having a gun.” She said there was not a threat that necessitated Ethan Knight having a gun, nor one that required him to use it or to take a life. Emerick said the video will prove Ethan Knight is guilty of first-degree murder.
Ultimately, it will be up to a Whatcom County jury to decide whether Ethan Knight acted in self-defense or not.
The definitions of self-defense, justifiable homicide, and premeditated first-degree murder that both the prosecution and defense are relying on and that will be presented to the jury have not yet been entered into the court record. It is also unclear at this time if a lesser murder charge will be offered for the jury to consider.
Witness testimony in the trial is expected to resume Monday morning.
