Moment a bereaved father confronted the woman who helped shoot his state trooper son dead during routine traffic stop
- Paul Butterfield berates Sarah Knysz for crying over her lost freedom rather than his son
- Father tells 20-year-old he hopes her unborn child is taken away
- Knysz was jailed for helping husband after officer was shot in the head
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The father of a Michigan state trooper shot dead during a routine traffic stop confronted the pregnant wife of the man accused of killing his son.
As he handed her a family photo, Paul Butterfield accused a weeping Sarah Renee Knysz of crying only because she had been caught.
The 20-year-old was being sentenced for helping her husband Eric Knysz get away after State Trooper Paul K Butterfield was shot in the head.
Impact: Paul Butterfield hands Sarah Knysz a family photo showing his state trooper son who was shot dead by her husband
Tears: As Knysz wept in court Paul Butterfield accused her of crying because she had been caught rather than being upset at the death of his son
Sarah Knysz was sentenced to between two and five years for accessory after the fact to a felon on Tuesday, but despite the victim's father and fiancee being in court she offered no apology.
Before the sentencing, Mr Butterfield Sr handed her a family photo and told her: 'I have seen your tears. I believe your tears are not a result of sorrow for our son’s death, but because you got caught.'
After telling the court the happiest day of his life was when his son was born, he turned to Knysz, who is nine months pregnant, and said: 'I hope for the sake of [your] child that he or she is removed totally from your family and adopted [by a loving, stable family].'
Knysz, who was in the car at the time of the shooting had told the court it was out of fear for her life and that of her unborn child that she protected her husband after the shooting, M Live reported.
Accused: Eric John Knysz, right, is due to stand trial in February over the murder of Paul Butterfield, left
'There wasn’t anything that I thought I could have done that day,' she said.
'He had a gun and he shot the trooper, and if he did that, what was he going to do to a witness that was going to tell on him and was going to turn him in? I just wanted to keep me and my baby safe. I was just thinking about my baby.'
She added: 'I didn’t mean for any of this to happen, and I didn’t have control over it happening.'
Eric Knysz, 19, who is due to stand trial for murder in February, admitted shooting the trooper in the head as he approached their pick up truck at about 6.30pm on September 9.
Cut short: State Trooper Butterfield was newly engaged to Jennifer Sielski when he was shot dead
Devastated: Jennifer Sielski tells the court about the last moments she spent with fiancee Paul Butterfield
Loss: Paul Butterfield was on a routine traffic stop when he was killed by the roadside
The body of the recently engaged officer was found by a passing motorist.
After the shooting, Sarah Knysz removed her cell phone battery and erased its memory and helped her husband move belongings from the pick up truck to a car he had stolen.
Despite being seen in two stores afterwards she did nothing to raise the alarm, the court was told.
The victim's fiancee, Jennifer Sielski, told the court, Butterfield made her feel 'like the luckiest woman in the world ... He protected me when I needed to feel safe. He was my friend, my inspiration, my hero, my soulmate.'
As she broke down in tears repeatedly during her statement, Miss Sielski told how her unused wedding dress was now hanging in the couple's closet next to Trooper Butterfield's uniform, Wood TV reported.
She recalled her last kiss with the trooper, who she saw briefly on the evening he died as he left for work, and said when she got the call that he had been injured 'her world stopped'.
Jailed: Sarah Knysz, who is nine months pregnant, was sentenced to between two and five years in prison
'I returned home from work, gave Paul a kiss and told Paul I loved him before he started his shift at 6pm something I had done countless times. But that time would be the last,' she said.
'Twenty minutes later, Paul lay on the road ... clinging to life ... as Eric and his wife, Sarah, fled toward freedom they were literally willing to kill for.'
Eric Knysz is due to stand trial for murder of a peace officer, felony firearm, carrying a concealed weapon and motor vehicle theft.
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