HS KILLER GUILTY
A Bronx judge didn’t buy a teen’s claim that he stabbed a classmate to death over constant bullying because he is gay — and found him guilty on all counts Monday.
Defendant Abel Cedeno, 19, had requested a non-jury trial, meaning the judge decided his fate on first-degree charges of manslaughter and assault and fourth-degree criminal possession of a weapon.
When Cedeno’s lawyer asked for bail for his client until sentencing in September, Justice Michael Gross retorted, “The presumption of innocence no longer applies to Mr. Cedeno” and ordered him remanded.
The teen had plunged a switchblade into the chest of Matthew McCree, a fellow student at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation, in September 2017 after the victim and a male pal allegedly tossed a ball of paper or a pen at him and the three started fighting.
Cedeno also seriously wounded the friend.
He claimed that he had suffered from merciless homophobic bullying before the slaying, publicly coming out as bisexual afterward.
“I love you, Papi!” Cedeno’s weeping mother yelled to her son as he was led away in handcuffs after the verdict.
The teen, a tear rolling down his cheek, replied, “I love you, too.’’
Cedeno, who was wearing a gray, short-sleeve, button-down shirt and navy jeans, will be sentenced on Sept. 10. He faces up to 25 years behind bars on each of the top two counts alone.
“What does my heart tell me? That the judge did the right thing with that verdict,’’ McCree’s mom, Louna Dennis, said after the verdict.
“What was in my heart? That praise be to God for this outcome, for the prayers and everything that all my family and church has been doing for me,’’ she said.
At trial, Cedeno said he didn’t remember the actual moment he killed the 15-year-old McCree.
He said he just whipped out his knife in the hopes that “people would be afraid and not come near me’’ but that McCree charged him and he stabbed him in self-defense.
Prosecutors argued that Cedeno had walked into class that day with a chip on his shoulder and was just waiting for a perceived slight to attack someone.
As Judge Gross read his verdict, McCree’s family gave a hushed cheer from one side of the courtroom, while Cedeno’s camp on the other side started weeping.
In asking for his client to remain free on bail until sentencing, the killer’s lawyer, Christopher Lynn, argued, “He’s certainly not going anywhere, Judge. He has no resources. He’s been a resident of this city and state his whole life.’’ But the judge balked. Feldman then asked the judge to at least ensure that Cedeno was placed in an LGBT dorm at Rikers Island. The judge replied that he would make the recommendation to the city’s Department of Correction but that he couldn’t guarantee it.
Bronx DA Darcel Clark said in a statement Monday, “In a matter of seconds, the defendant took out his knife and stabbed two students in front of a crowded classroom.”
The two victims “did not know and did not socialize with the defendant prior to the incident,’’ she said.
“The incident has forever traumatized the young students and school faculty who watched in horror the violence that unfolded that morning.”