The lawyer for a 13-year-old accused of taking part in the murder of Barnard College student Tessa Majors said Tuesday that video police have produced as a key piece of evidence does not show her client committing a crime.
Calling what happened to Majors a “terrible tragedy,” Legal Aid lawyer Hannah Kaplan said during a probable cause hearing in Manhattan Family Court that the footage from a security booth in Morningside Park does not implicate the 13-year-old.
“The evidence here is the opposite,” said Kaplan. “The only testimony connecting my client to anything related to Miss Majors' death and alleged robbery is that at some point my client picked up a knife and handed it to someone. That is refuted by the description of the surveillance video.”
Kaplan was referring to New York Police Department Detective Wilfredo Acevedo's testimony where he told the court that there is video of the robbing and stabbing and it does not show the 13-year-old suspect robbing or stabbing the victim.
Acevedo also told the court that the 13-year-old insisted during his interrogation that he didn’t know his friends were planning to rob Majors.
But Assistant Corporation Counsel Rachel Glantz, acting as prosecutor, told the court the 13-year-old implicated himself when he admitted to detectives that he and two other teens were in the Manhattan park to rob somebody.
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“He described how they followed a white male but for whatever reason they decided not to rob him,” Glantz said. “Then he told detectives that he later picked up a knife and handed to another individual. It is reasonable to infer that when the knife was picked up that it would be used in the course of a robbery.“
Glantz then urged Judge Carol Goldstein to deny Kaplan’s request for the 13-year-old be released into the custody of his aunt and uncle, who were in the courtroom.
Goldstein ultimately said the 13-year-old was a “threat to public safety” and ordered him to be remanded.
Meanwhile, investigators were still searching for a 14-year-old who was supposed to come in for questioning on Monday, but was last seen running from a car in Harlem.
A 14-year-old was brought in for questioning over the weekend, but it is unclear if he is the same teen that fled the area.
The 13-year-old suspect walked into the courtroom in handcuffs and was dressed in sweatpants and a sweater. He has been charged with second-degree murder, robbery and a weapons-related charge.
In response to a question from Goldstein, the underage suspect told the judge his name but otherwise stayed silent as Glantz and Kaplan made their cases to the judge.
Majors, 18, was stabbed to death last Wednesday in the park near Barnard College. Police believe the 13-year-old was one of the three teens who were trying to rob Majors.
When one of the teens allegedly put Majors in a chokehold and the others began rifling through her pockets, the college student fought back and bit one of the fingers of the robbers, police said.
In the ensuing struggle, Majors was stabbed repeatedly in the torso, police said. She was able to stagger out of the park but later died at a nearby hospital.
Police have not said why Majors was in the park, but a top police union official sparked a firestorm of criticism Sunday by suggesting on the radio show that the victim was there to buy marijuana. That official, Sergeants Benevolent Association president Ed Mullins, later apologized and said he did not intend to blame the victim for her own murder.
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Video of Tessa Majors' last moments does not implicate 13-year-old stabbing suspect, lawyer says - NBC News
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