August 12 – The Pennsylvania Superior Court upheld the conviction of Clayton Leroy Knorr, who was found guilty by a Luzerne County jury of drug trafficking and retaliating against a woman by trying to give her a fatal concoction of fentanyl, heroin and cocaine.

Knorr, 43, formerly of West Main Street, Plymouth, faced a three-day jury trial before President Judge Michael T. Vough in January 2023, accused of intending and attempting to kill Michelle Shulla who had a protection-from-abuse order against him , according to court records.

Pennsylvania State Police troopers arrested Knorr when he met Shulla at a Park & ​​Ride near Ashley on September 22, 2021.

Knorr was accused of carrying a four-inch glass bottle filled with a mixture of prescription drugs, cocaine and heroin. Knorr enticed Shulla to meet with him a day before a court proceeding on the PFA order, according to court records.

A jury acquitted Knorr of criminal attempt to commit criminal homicide and criminal solicitation to commit criminal homicide, but convicted him of retaliation against a witness and possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Vough sentenced Knorr to five years, six months to 11 years in state prison in March 2023.

Knorr appealed the jury’s verdict, challenging the evidence presented at trial as insufficient to support the convictions for witness retaliation and drug trafficking.

A three-member panel of the Superior Court, in a 13-page opinion, rejected Knorr’s appeal.

“There was ample evidence that Knorr disliked (Shulla) and blamed (Shulla_ for her problems in the PFA court, to the extent that Knorr wanted to hurt (Shulla) and wanted her dead,” the appeals court ruled, noting that Knorr feared to be incarcerated and to lose custody of a child at the PFA hearing on September 23, 2021.

“The jury could reasonably infer Knorr’s retaliatory intent to meet these consequences,” the high court ruled.

Regarding the drug trafficking conviction, Knorr challenged the guilty verdict because Shulla could not accept “delivery” because she was unaware of his plans.

“Nor is Knorr entitled to relief on this claim,” the Supreme Court ruled. “We find the evidence was sufficient to convict Knorr of possession with intent to deliver given the circumstances, that the vial discovered on Knorr’s person at the time of the arrest contained fentanyl, heroin, cocaine, xylazine and trazodone.”

Knorr is currently housed at the State Correctional Institution in Coal Township, Northumberland County.

Assistant District Attorneys Drew McLaughlin and Julian Truskowski were charged.