A Bullied Gay Teen is Found Guilty of Manslaughter, Assault and Criminal Possession by State Judge

          

Abel Cedeno facing 50 years. Something went very wrong here. A Youth is attacked for being gay and one of his attackers paid with his life. No one is taking the blame but at least the parents of all involved should review why two of them went for a boy classmate because of his orientation and of the gay boy and the school for not helping this boy with the bullying. There is much that could have been done. Any learning points for this community and SCHOOL?.

                               

Abel Cedeno testified that, after years of bullying, he feared for his life when he fatally stabbed a classmate who had punched him. 

In September 2017, Abel Cedeno stabbed and killed Matthew McCree at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx.  The New York Times

By Emily Palmer

 

On a September morning two years ago, Abel Cedeno put on a pink Kylie Minogue shirt, and then tossed his books and inhaler into his backpack.

Just before leaving for school that day, he took a switchblade knife he had bought online from the top of his dresser and placed it in his pocket.

Within a few hours, the then 18-year-old senior had fatally stabbed Matthew McCree, 15, and permanently maimed Ariane LaBoy, 16, in a history class at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation in the Bronx.

On Monday, a state judge found Mr. Cedeno guilty of manslaughter, assault and criminal possession of an illegal knife, rejecting Mr. Cedeno’s claim he had acted in self-defense after Mr. McCree had punched him. Mr. Cedeno faces up to 50 years in prison. 

 Mathew McCree15 died of stabbed wounds and wounded Ariane LaBoy 16, partner of Matthew in the fight

 

Shouts of “Yes!” echoed through the courtroom when the guilty verdict was read. Mr. Cedeno, who had been free on bail, showed no emotion. His mother, Luz Hernandez, wept from where she was sitting a few rows behind him before he was handcuffed and taken into custody.

Mr. Cedeno had waived his right to a jury and had put his fate in the hands of Justice Michael A. Gross of State Supreme Court in the Bronx.

In eight days of testimony stretched over a three-week bench trial, more than 20 witnesses, many of them students, testified regarding what Officer Oliva Carvajal called “a scene out of a massacre” and what prosecutors said took just 15 seconds to unfold.

By the time Officer Carvajal of the New York Police Department had responded to the emergency call, blood covered the walls of the fifth-floor classroom and Matthew shuddered for breath outside the door as people inside the classroom crowded around Ariane, tapping his face to keep him from fading away.

Mr. Cedeno, now 19, told Justice Gross last week that the knife, which he purchased on Amazon for $44.89, was meant only to “deter” students he said had bullied him for years because he is gay.

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On that morning in 2017, students in the back of the classroom were throwing crumpled paper and broken pencils, which Mr. Cedeno said he thought were aimed at him. Mr. Cedeno said he confronted the students, which led Matthew to move toward him. Fearing for his life, Mr. Cedeno said, he grabbed his knife, flicked open the blade and “just waited.”

During closing arguments last week, Nancy Borko, the lead prosecutor, said Mr. Cedeno was looking for a fight with “his trusty new knife.”

Matthew’s death, the first homicide in a New York City school in two decades, prompted protests from parents over the lack of metal detectors at a school with a history of violent incidents. Members of the L.G.B.T.Q. the community argued the school should have taken action against those who had bullied a gay student.

Christopher Lynn, one of the defense lawyers, said in closing arguments that Mr. Cedeno “did not attack anyone that day.” Instead, he had tried to de-escalate the onslaught, as he often did, by leaving class in the midst of a pummeling. But when he returned, Mr. Cedeno was hit with debris again, Mr. Lynn said. “He was attacked and never the aggressor,” Mr. Lynn said.

Mr. Lynn and Robert J. Feldman built a defense on the premise that Mr. Cedeno had suffered unchecked taunts in the classroom that drove him to take extreme action.

The two lawyers took the case, pro bono, at the behest of Councilman Rubén Díaz Sr., who has been criticized for making homophobic remarks but who had helped Mr. Cedeno post bail soon after he was charged. Mr. Cedeno lives in Mr. Díaz’s district in the Bronx.

Mr. Feldman framed the proceedings as “a gay-pride trial.” He and Mr. Cedeno often wore matching rainbow heart pins clipped to their lapels. Tom Shanahan, who is representing Mr. Cedeno in a lawsuit against the Department of Education and joined the defense table, also wore rainbow-colored accessories.

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The defense’s decision to forgo a jury trial drew criticism. Mr. Feldman explained in an interview ahead of the trial that he did not believe Mr. Cedeno could get a fair jury trial in the Bronx, where he said anti-gay sentiment among African-Americans was high.

Further, Mr. Feldman said, Mr. Cedeno, whose family is from Puerto Rico, could not count on Hispanic support.

But ultimately, the judge determined that Mr. Cedeno, regardless of his sexual orientation and the history of unchecked school bullying, could not provide an account of what happened that day that supported his claim of self-defense. Other students who testified said Mr. Cedeno initiated the fight, and that he was the only person using homophobic slurs that day.

The case sparked strong emotions, as well as extensive litigation.

The defense lawyers and lawyers for the victim’s families regularly held news conferences after each day’s proceedings. During one, defense lawyers suggested that the victims had been gang members, though they provided little evidence to prove it.

Matthew’s mother, Louna Dennis, repeatedly disputed the defense’s assertion that her son was a bully or was prejudiced against gay men. She also said Mr. Cedeno intended to kill her son.

In closing arguments, Mr. Lynn spoke about the violent reputations of both victims.

On Thursday, the defense submitted a photograph of an African-American teenager who was wearing a black bandanna and identified him as the slain student, Matthew. They said the bandanna indicated an affiliation with a local gang. Shortly after, Ms. Dennis took the stand and said the person in the photo was not her son.

“I’m glad I got the chance to say something, to make corrections about some of their errors,” she said after taking the stand. “They perpetrated a lot of lies.”

Later, outside the courthouse, Ms. Dennis labeled the defense’s arguments as “straight racist.”

Sentencing is set for Sept. 10.