ABEL CEDENO TRIAL, from p.38
Cedeno surrendered the knife
to Evelyn in the principal’s offi ce.
She testifi ed that a subdued Cedeno
said, “I shouldn’t have done it.
I went too far.” Evelyn, who had
counseled Cedeno for some time,
said that she never fi led a report to
the Department of Education about
the bullying he was subjected to,
considering that the responsibility
of the dean. (Indeed, many schools
in New York report zero incidents
of bullying each year.)
Borko introduced photos of the
wounds suffered by LaBoy and
the single three-inch slash of Mc-
Cree’s chest that ended his life.
Louna Dennis, McCree’s mother,
left the courtroom at that point,
distraught. Her attorney in a civil
suit for $25 million against the
city, Sanford Rubenstein, reported
that she said, “He fi lleted my son
like a fi sh!”
The prosecution is trying to
paint Cedeno as having a history
of violence, reading into the record
reports of various fi ghts he has had
with family members. His family,
including his mother Luz Hernandez,
and sisters have been showing
up for him at trial most every day.
The defense, notably attorney
Robert J. Feldman, is trying to
paint the victims as gang members
that Cedeno feared — not because
of any previous encounter with
them but because of their reputations
and their allegedly having
beaten up a friend of his.
A soft-spoken student witness,
Aanaiya Santiago, 17, testifi ed on
July 1 that the things being tossed
at Cedeno were aimed at the garbage
can next to the door where
Abel was standing and were not
aimed at him. She testifi ed, “Abel
then shouted, ‘Who threw the
fucking paper’” and said that Mc-
Cree stood up and said he was sorry
and that it wasn’t meant for Abel
who then, in her judgment, escalated
the confrontation by calling
them “pussies” and saying, “Pull
up. Pull up!” to start a fi ght.
Santiago was not aware of what
Cedeno has repeatedly testifi ed to,
including a statement to an ADA
on the day of the incident that
was played in court on July 2:
that pencils and other debris was
being thrown at his head early
in the class causing him to leave
the room twice before the fi ght. In
another tape shown to the court,
Cedeno showed police interrogators
how he tried to defend himself
from McCree and LaBoy — holding
up his right hand with the knife as
a warning (he is left-handed) and
when he used it he was just waving
it back and forth to ward off the
attack.
Another student witness,
Frankie Santiago, was asked repeatedly
about whether he was
aware of alleged gang connections
that McCree and LaBoy had. The
defense is trying to establish that
Cedeno had particular reason to
fear them when they attacked. But
Judge Michael A. Gross sustained
every prosecution objection to this
line of questioning.
When Feldman tried to ask
teacher witness Nikolai Kennedy
about repeated reports he had allegedly
fi led on violent or disruptive
incidents involving the victims,
Gross sustained objections to that
evidence, as well. Kennedy was in
the front of the classroom when the
fi ght took place and a nine-second
cell phone video of it shows him
no more than three feet away and
then putting his hands on LaBoy’s
shoulders at one point.
“I wanted the fi ght to stop,” he
said.
As the video played in the courtroom,
Kennedy said, “It looked like
Matthew punched him” referring
to Cedeno.
LaBoy testifi ed on July 2, now
6”4” and 18 — though 6”1” and 16
at the time of the incident. He had
great diffi culty being heard in the
courtroom and his testimony had
to be read back by the court reporter
at the request of the defense.
He showed his multiple scars to
the judge and that he was unable
to raise his right arm above shoulder
height. And when fi rst asked
to recount the incident, he put his
head down and was unable to continue,
leading the judge to call for
a recess.
LaBoy said that when Cedeno
fi rst came into the class, Cedeno
bumped his chair several times,
“but I ignored it.” He said when
Cedeno confronted the class about
who was throwing things at him,
➤ ABEL CEDENO TRIAL, continued on p.51
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GayCityNews.com | July 4 - July 17, 2019 39
/GayCityNews.com
