Kenneth Cobb, a 33-year-old White man known for his adventurous spirit and passion as a chef, was killed in Billings, Montana, in the early hours of May 15, 2020. He was staying as a guest at the home of Robert Webster Knight, then 62, on 19th Street West.
That night, Cobb, his girlfriend, and Knight were drinking alcohol and playing cards in the basement bar of the home. An argument broke out between Cobb and his girlfriend, and Knight went upstairs to his bedroom.
When the argument continued and he heard a thud, Knight went back downstairs to intervene. He told Cobb to leave the house, but Cobb refused. Knight attempted to push him toward the stairs, but Cobb resisted by grabbing onto doorways. Knight then tried to call 911 from a landline, but Cobb prevented the call by putting his thumb on the receiver. When Knight went upstairs to try another phone, he found the line was dead.
Feeling threatened, Knight went to his bedroom, retrieved a semiautomatic pistol, and loaded it. He confronted Cobb again in his office and ordered him to leave. Knight pointed the gun at Cobb and squeezed the trigger, but the chamber was empty. He again told Cobb to leave, and when Cobb refused, Knight racked a round into the chamber and fired, striking Cobb once in the chest. Cobb stumbled into the garage, where he collapsed.
Knight called the police from his cell phone, telling the dispatcher he had just shot a man. When officers arrived shortly after 3 a.m., Knight met them outside his house, dressed in a bathrobe with his hands in the air. First responders found Cobb in the garage and transported him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. The Yellowstone County Coroner's Office confirmed his death was caused by a single gunshot wound to the chest.
Knight was arrested at the scene and initially charged with deliberate homicide. From the beginning, he admitted to shooting Cobb, but his defense would later argue that his actions were justified. During the investigation, Knight told police that Cobb had not threatened him before the shooting.
In March 2026, Robert Webster Knight stood trial. A Yellowstone County jury heard testimony from multiple police officers, Cobb’s girlfriend, and Knight himself. While prosecutors argued for a deliberate homicide conviction, the jury found Knight guilty of the lesser offense of mitigated deliberate homicide. The verdict indicated that jurors believed Knight was under extreme mental duress at the time of the shooting but that the killing was not justified.
On August 25, 2026, District Judge Brett Linneweber sentenced Knight to 40 years in prison with 15 years suspended. The case was closed as of August 2026.
