The Reporter Dispatch
Gannett Suburban Newspaper
By Will David
A Mount Vernon High School student who was fatally stabbed in October 1994 in the school’s halls was responsible for his own death because he was a member of a “posse” that attacked the student who killed him, a defense attorney told a jury yesterday.
The attorney, Todd Greenberg, told jurors that his client, Jr.,, 18, was defending himself against , 17, and possibly nine other students when the death occurred after first period.
Greenberg said the group jumped , punched and kicked him, and he fell against a wall. One of the students cut over the eyebrow with a knife, and blood gushed all over his face, the lawyer from Queens said.
“ actions – under the circumstances – were reasonable and justified,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg made his comments yesterday in the Westchester County courthouse in White Plains during opening statements in murder trial.
is charged with one count of second-degree murder and one count of first-degree manslaughter. The case is being heard before county Judge Peter M. Leavitt.
The October 24, 1994, killing of at Mount Vernon High School, one of the state’s largest schools, was the first homicide in a Westchester or Putnam county high school.
In his opening statements, Assistant District Attorney Doug Fitzmorris admitted that and others ambushed in the hall. One of the attackers had a knife and stabbed the defendant, Fitzmorris said. But when , who was alone, wrestled the knife away, they all ran, the prosecutor told the jury.
Fitzmorris said chased and stabbed him three times from behind. One wound severed the victim’s aorta, he said.
“He was no longer the victim, but the attacker,” Fitzmorris said.
stumbled down the stairwell and collapsed on the first floor. He bled to death on the way to Westchester County Medical Center in Valhalla in a medical helicopter.
Fitzmorris described the killing as tragic.
“ death was needless. death was for no good reason. did not have to die,” Fitzmorris said.
Fitzmorris said an Oct. 18 fight between the defendant and another student, , 17, led up to the fatal brawl. and , a newcomer to the school, fought after an argument about the way each looked at the other. They were both suspended from school for two weeks and returned Oct. 24.
, and others planned to attack on the day the pair returned from suspension. They did it after first period.
The halls were crowded. and his friends punched and kicked , Fitzmorris said. One stabbed him. It began and ended in a few minutes, the prosecutor said. Fitzmorris said it is not clear who had the knife.
“ choice is a significant choice once he has the knife,” Fitzmorris said. “He runs down from behind and stabs him three times.”
Greenberg said the students who attacked should be on trial.
Later, outside the courtroom Greenberg said those students would not testify in the case.
Greenberg told the jury that after the fight with , whose mother is an employee at the high school, returned to the school with his father, , to mediate the dispute with school officials. Greenberg said the school postponed the mediation session and allowed both boys into school.
Less than two hours later, the ambush that Darden, and others had planned on the telephone Oct. 22 swung into action , Greenberg said. That led to death, he said.
