Eleven days later, Cedeno stabbed a fellow student to death at his Bronx high school in what his lawyers have called an act of self-defense against two bullies but prosecutors say was a reckless act of violence.
His trial on manslaughter and assault charges, which began with opening statements Friday, is expected to focus attention on the issue of bullying directed at LGBTQ teenagers.
Cedeno, 19, plans to testify in his own defense. He has waived his right to a jury and put his fate in the hands of Justice Michael Gross in state Supreme Court in the Bronx.
Prosecutors say Cedeno fatally stabbed Matthew McCree, 15, and seriously wounded Ariane Laboy, 16, during a fight on Sept. 27, 2017, in a third-period history class at their high school in the Bronx.
The killing was the first in a New York City classroom in two decades and prompted a public outcry. Parents concerned for student safety pushed for metal detectors to be installed in the school the day after the stabbing.
Gay rights advocates said the school system had failed to address the bullying of LGBTQ youths, and in the wake of McCree’s death, the city created an online portal to report bullying, harassment and discrimination.
During opening statements, Cedeno’s lawyer, Chris Lynn, described the defendant as a gay student who had suffered “a torturous history” of harassment and assault at the school. He had used the knife, Lynn said, only because the other students “decided to attack Abel Cedeno with a force that could not be stopped.”
But prosecutors argued that Cedeno escalated a conflict that otherwise would never have become deadly.
“He brought an illegal knife to school and he was looking for an opportunity to use it,” a prosecutor, Nancy Borko, told the judge, adding that there was “no justification” for the stabbings.
“All the stab wounds were inflicted by one person with a knife: Abel Cedeno,” she said. She added: “Matthew McCree might have got a slap or a punch in. Abel Cedeno gets a stab to the chest in.”
The three boys were students at the Urban Assembly School for Wildlife Conservation, a five-story brick building on Mohegan Avenue sometimes referred to as the “Zoo” because of its reputation for gang violence.
The tragic event resonated with many people in the city’s LGBTQ community, for whom bullying in high school was a common experience.
“I actually cried a little bit when I heard about what happened to Abel,” said Daniel Dromm, an openly gay member of the City Council and a former teacher. “There were times I thought when I was younger I’d like to harm the bullies who are doing the harm to me. Luckily I didn’t act, but I understand the mentality.”
Two openly gay lawyers, Lynn and Robert Feldman, volunteered to take over the case from the Legal Aid Society, serving pro bono. In interviews, Feldman has tried to cast the proceedings, which come at the end of the World Pride Month celebration in Manhattan, as “a gay pride trial.”
Cedeno, who came out as a gay man after his arrest, took the stand to testify before a grand jury for three hours. In the end the grand jury indicted him on a manslaughter charge rather than a murder charge.
In his opening statement, Lynn said Cedeno, who had spent years putting up with bullying, feared for his life on the day of the stabbing.
That day, Lynn said, several students started throwing debris at Cedeno in class. He took a trip to the bathroom, but the harassment continued when he returned. Cedeno then grabbed his backpack and moved toward the door, Lynn said, but stopped and yelled, “Who is throwing these things at me and why?”
McCree and Laboy moved from the back of the class toward Cedeno, Lynn said. Cedeno, who is left-handed, drew a black-handled knife from his pocket, holding it in his right hand as a warning. Advancing toward him, McCree pushed a teacher out of the way and attacked Cedeno, Lynn said.
Shavon Evelyn, a guidance counselor at the school, testified Friday that moments after the attack she saw Cedeno leaving the classroom. She took him to the assistant principal’s office and noticed a closed knife in his hand.
She said she asked him why he had brought the knife to school, and he replied, “‘I don’t know, I guess I thought I was a badass.’” He went on to admit to her that he had stabbed two people, Evelyn said.
Later, she said, she overheard him talking on a cellphone. “‘Either I’m going to jail or I’m going to get jumped,’” he told the person on the other end. After he hung up, Evelyn said, she heard him say: “‘I shouldn’t have done it, I went too far. I shouldn’t have done it, I went too far.’”
Cedeno filed a federal lawsuit this month against the city education department, claiming that the school enabled the bullying and that he was physically assaulted regularly and endured “discriminatory anti-gay epithets.”
McCree’s and Laboy’s families have also sued the city, claiming that the school should have had metal detectors and that teachers did too little to prevent the attack.
“You’re supposed to be safe inside a school,” McCree’s mother, Louna Dennis, said Thursday outside the courthouse. “It’s not a war zone. It’s not a battleground. It’s a school. It’s a place of learning. It’s supposed to be a safe environment.”