After weeks of Jeffrey Knoble’s outbursts, his obscene gestures, his hate-filled accusations, Wednesday was reserved for what Andrew “Beep” White’s family had to say.
The 32-year-old couldn’t speak for himself because Knoble killed him in cold blood on March 11, 2015, in Easton. White felt sorry for his homeless friend and got him a hotel room and something to eat.
Knoble, 27, of Riegelsville, repaid him by shooting him in the head. A jury convicted him of first-degree murder Tuesday and he was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday.
But the message from the White family wasn’t primarily one of vengeance.
It was one of love.
It was one of joy for the time they shared with their uncle and brother.
And one of hope that someday Knoble will come to terms with the act that even he admitted was “stupid.”
“You hurt me. You hurt us,” said White’s niece, Natazia Edwards. She came to Wednesday’s sentencing hearing with about 40 family members, many wearing shirts with White’s likeness on them.
“I’m going to pray for you that you have some type of clear mind to know what you did. I’m going to pray for you. Alright?” she asked.
White faced the death penalty but prosecutors opted not to pursue it after Knoble was acquitted of robbery for taking White’s coat and phone after the murder.
“I don’t want you to die,” Edwards said. “I want you to sit and think about what you did.”
Witnesses in the trial testified Knoble met White when he was in his teens. Paying for the hotel room wasn’t White’s first kind act for Knoble. Edwards remembered her uncle taking Knoble to a party recently because he knew Knoble didn’t have many friends.
Andrew ‘Beep’ White’s killer guilty Jan. 31, 2017
Edwards said she wishes she had been Knoble’s friend. Maybe she could have talked him out of killing her uncle.
“Our family, we love. That’s what we’re built on. We don’t judge,” Edwards said.
White’s brother, Justin White, lost his cool near the end of a week of prosecution testimony, yelling at Knoble during the trial that he killed “Beep” for nothing.
In court Betboo Wednesday he said the murder conviction brought him relief for the first time in 22 months. It also allowed him to let go of his rage.
“I hated you man,” he told Knoble. “I hated you for two years. I don’t hate you no more. I just want you to get the help that you need. My family, we’re suffering. It’s hard man.”
Knoble last year agreed to plead guilty, only to renege and stick his tongue out at the White family in court. Justin White asked Knoble to set aside his outrageous behavior and angry interjections out of respect for White and his memory.
“Face it like a man,” he said.
Knoble testified at trial that White, who was openly gay, sexually assaulted him in the hotel room, prompting him to kill him. First Deputy District Attorney Terence Houck believes Knoble killed White to somehow give him credibility as a “tough guy.”
Knoble didn’t mention his claim of being sexually assaulted Wednesday.
“I know my apology is going to fall on deaf ears but I do apologize,” he said. “It was a stupid decision that I thought about every day. I know a lot of people are just going to say ‘f–k this guy.’ His apology don’t mean nothing. But I do apologize.”
Then he lapsed into a litany of legal reasons why he felt his convictions were not warranted as members of the White family quietly left the courtroom.
Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano read White’s obituary, where he’s described as a “bright spirt and personality,” one of six kids who grew up on Easton’s South Side.
Jesselene White, White’s sister, was one of the family members to express regret that her child would not grow up to get to know his Uncle Beep.
“I don’t know what happened to you growing up,” she told Knoble. “I wish you would have been loved.”
She added: “You took the only person that looked out for you and cared for you in this world and I hope it eats you alive every day.”
“You may have taken away my brother in flesh but there is no way you can ever take away the memories we have of him,” added White’s sister, Melissa Dorrah.
The judge complied with a recommendation from Houck to tack on extra prison time in addition to the life sentence for murder. Knoble was sentenced to a consecutive nine and a half to 28 years for stealing his ex-girlfriend’s rental car and putting four bullets in it, owning a gun despite a previous felony conviction and threatening to kill police in a “suicide by cop” plan he shared with his mother.
Peek inside the case (and mind) of Easton’s taunting killer
When Knoble finally finished making his legal arguments, it was Giordano’s turn to speak. He first acknowledged Knoble wasn’t a “great man” like White’s brother, Justin White.
“I don’t know how he sits up here and says he doesn’t hate you,” the judge said. “You are a merciless and ruthless and cold-blooded murderer who killed an innocent and defenseless man who was your friend, a young man whose only sin was that he put his trust in you.”
The comments and imposition of sentence drew applause from the White family.
Then Knoble asked to be transferred immediately to state prison.
“Mr. Knoble, I think there’s a lot of people here that would drive the bus for you,” the judge said.
WATCH: Even without death penalty, justice is served for family
Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
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