Woman sentenced for role as driver in ambush fatal shooting
Breanna Marie Knight, 28, was sentenced Thursday by Luzerne County Judge David W. Lupas to 12 to 25 years in prison for criminal conspiracy to commit criminal homicide in the shooting death of Elijah Rivers, 22, on North Meade Street on Jan. 30, 2023.
Knight was accused by Wilkes-Barre City police detectives of driving Kadeen K. Carruth, 21, and Yuamir S. Grayson, 28, from SGS Studios on South Empire Street to North Meade Street where they waited for Rivers to arrive at a residence.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Chester F. Dudick, who, along with Assistant District Attorney Rachel Spivak, prosecuted, said the three mistakenly killed the wrong man they intended to target.
Knight's defense attorneys, James J. Scanlon and Sidney D. May, said since Knight has been in prison, she completed numerous programs to improve herself including attending Bible classes.
"She's not running away from this, she owning it," Scanlon said in an effort at a lower sentence. "She's is young, only 28, and she is turning her life around."
Knight apologized for driving Carruth and Grayson.
"I take full accountability for my actions, if I knew what was going to happen, I would never had given them a ride. I'm truly sorry," Knight said in seeking a lenient sentence so she can return to her child sooner than later.
"The victim was not the intended target that night," Dudick said. "This was possible through Knight's participation."
In imposing the sentence, Lupas noted Knight has a 2020 conviction for drug trafficking and charges filed in 2023, for illegally possessing a firearm and a second drug trafficking offense.
"There was a loss of life here. Even though she did not pull the trigger, she did participate in the homicide," Lupas said.
Carruth and Grayson were sentenced by Lupas on March 4 to 15 to 30 years in prison, respectively, on third-degree murder charges.
Court records say Knight drove Carruth and Grayson and waited on North Meade Street for their target to arrive. When Rivers exited a vehicle he parked, Carruth and Grayson emerged firing multiple shots at him.
Police recovered .40-caliber and .45-caliber shell casings at the scene.
After the shooting, Knight drove Carruth and Grayson back to SGS Studios, where they changed clothes.
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