Defendant: I was protecting myself

Grady testifies he was in a “3-way tug of war” for knife that killed victim

Lahquann Grady told jurors Tuesday he was defending himself against his girlfriend in a three-way struggle for a steak knife when Rashaun Byrd was fatally stabbed on July 5.

Grady, 21, testified in his own defense in Albany County Court, where he stands trial for seconddegree murder in the death of Byrd, 29, inside 297 Orange St.

“Did you stab Rashaun Byrd?” Grady’s defense attorney, Lee Kindlon, asked his client.

“No — I didn’t think I did,” Grady answered in a packed courtroom that included Byrd’s mother and members of Grady’s family.

Grady said his ex-girlfriend Charley Hawkins initially swung the knife at him and cut him.

Grady said he, Hawkins and Byrd, whom he identified as “Hothead,” were in a “three-way tug of war” for the weapon moments before the incident turned deadly.

“She’s pulling it her way, he’s pulling it his way and I’m pulling it my way. Everybody is trying to get the knife from somebody,” Grady testified.

Grady said they all moved forward at one point. Byrd gasped for air and slid back into a closet.

“We’re all in complete shock,” Grady said.

Kindlon asked Grady if he intended for Byrd to die.

“I didn’t want nobody to die, didn’t want any problems,” Grady replied. “I was just going home.”

Kindlon asked Grady why he left the scene. Grady said: “I never had to defend myself like that before, nothing like that. I didn’t want to go to jail for something I didn’t do.”

Grady and Hawkins met on Sept. 21, 2017 on Facebook. Within days they moved in together in his mother’s home in Troy, Grady testified.

They moved into the basement apartment at 297 Orange St. on Feb. 14, 2018 — a Valentine’s Day memory in a relationship that prosecutors say was volatile from the start.

At the time of Byrd’s death, an order of protection from City Court barred Grady from the apartment. It stemmed from an earlier incident on June 5 in which prosecutors say a jealous Grady kicked in the door to the apartment because he was enraged that a man was in the home. The man had been getting his braids done by Hawkins, they said.

Despite the order of protection, Hawkins willingly hung out with Grady and the two watched the fireworks at Empire State Plaza joined by friends. Grady said they later talked about their relationship on a bench.

Grady said he walked to Lexington Avenue to attend a family cookout but the event turned violent — one of his cousins was shot.

Grady said he messaged Hawkins and one of her friends on Facebook and they said Hawkins was not home. He said walked home after Hawkins said he could stay. He said he went into the home through a window.

Grady denied picking up a bottle of wine that was on a shelf, as prosecutors allege.

When he entered the apartment, Hawkins, two female friends and Byrd were all in a bedroom “looking at me like I’m a ghost. They were shocked to see me,” he testified.

Grady said Hawkins told him to “get the (expletive) out.” And one of Hawkins’ friends yelled at him to leave as well.

When he saw Byrd, “I was like, ‘Who are you?’” Grady said.

He said Byrd told him: “You’re a Robinson? I know your family.” Grady replied, “So?”

Byrd said Hawkins and her friends dragged him out of the bedroom into the living room. He said one of Hawkins’ friends grabbed a pan. Hawkins, he said, grabbed the knife and cut him.

He said the three-way struggle ensued.

Grady’s version of the events is different from the testimony of Hawkins, who said she did not allow him to be in the home. She said Grady stabbed Byrd, prompting her to yell at him, “What did you do?”

Prosecutors say Grady plunged the knife into Byrd’s heart. It is also somewhat different from the account Kindlon delivered in his opening statement last week.

Kindlon told the jury: “In the middle of struggle, Hothead took control of the knife and went after Lahquann. He thought he was going to be stabbed. He thought if he didn’t act, he would have died.”

Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Mccanney was still cross-examining Grady when Judge William Carter ended court late Tuesday afternoon.

Her cross examination will continue at 10 a.m. Lawyers are expected to deliver closing arguments later Wednesday.