Attorney For Kathryn Knott: Don't Judge Her From One Moment

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Lou Buscio, attorney for Kathryn Knott, who was recently convicted of assault for her alleged role in the attack on a gay couple in Center City, urged restraint in judging the 25-year-old Southampton native for one moment in her life.

Buscio, talking with Dom Giordano on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT, rejected claims that Knott is discriminatory.

"Kathryn is in no way homophobic. Not to sound condescending, she has homosexuals among her closest friends and her family. She's a person who associates with others because of how they act, because of their character, not because of their lifestyle."

He thinks Knott is a much better person than the one portrayed at trial and in media accounts.

"I don't care what our tendencies are or our likes are or what our orientation or preferences are in life, what we say as human beings, we're fallible creatures, and in the heat of moment we're going to say hurtful things. In the heat of the moment, we may say things that we could regret but you don't judge a person on their absolute best day, nor on their worst and you surely don't judge a person for their entire life based on the utterance of a couple of words, if they were ever said, at a point in time where all hell is breaking loose."

Buscio conceded the attention the case received worked against her in court.

"You can't run away from the obvious. The issue was the status of the two victims. It went from street fight to a case to a cause and that clearly played into the juror deliberations. The evidence was presented to them about Ms. Knott's tweets from two and three years ago. Tweets which could be interpreted several ways. Anybody can call a tweet or a text distasteful, disparaging, insulting, if that's the interpretation you're looking for from the beginning."

Knott's sentencing is currently scheduled for February 8.