Community leaders are trying to avoid another “Exonerated 5” situation after the stabbing death of an 18-year-old white female college student in Morningside Park.
Reports indicate the incident took place on Dec. 11 when the victim, Tessa Majors, a freshman at Barnard College, was attacked in Morningside Park near the campus. Campus security found her body and called 911. Majors was fatally stabbed in her torso during the attack, which involved three people.
Students, politicians, anti-violence activists and local residents attended a candlelight vigil for Majors on Sunday at Morningside Park. The 26th Precinct and Parks Department have dramatically stepped up patrols in and around Morningside Park.
A 13-year-old was arrested in connection with the stabbing and appeared in court this week. Due to his age, he’s been placed in the custody of the Administration for Children’s Services.
He’s being represented by the Legal Aid Society, who said in a statement that rushing to judgement is harmful to the case. The teen has reportedly admitted his involvement in the stabbing and attempted robbery.
He could be charged with second-degree murder, first-degree robbery and criminal possession of a weapon and tried as an adult. The 13-year-old claimed he was on the scene during the attack when his two friends held the woman down and stabbed her.
“No one should seek to exploit this tragedy to press for new, ill-advised criminal sanctions against our young clients,” the spokesperson said. “Our client is a 13-year-old child who is presumed innocent with no juvenile record. History is full of examples of high profile cases tried in the media, rushing law enforcement to a wrongful arrest and conviction.”
The spokesperson added that the teen was questioned and interrogated by police without an attorney present. The organization says that it’s important that the suspect’s constitutional rights are not violated.
Police are also searching for a 14-year-old suspect connected with the stabbing. Reports indicate the teen was on his way to speak to investigators when he fled from a vehicle. Another suspect was taken into custody but was later released.
As the investigation continues, many are advocating for a fair process for the teen suspects. The situation is shaping up like the Central Park Jogger case where five Black teens were unjustly coerced into confessing to the rape of a white woman in 1989. The case resulted in the young suspects’ conviction and false imprisonment.
“It’s heartbreaking that anybody who is a student at the beginning of their journey would get killed in this way,” said State Sen. Brian Benjamin said. “We don’t want a situation where we have a tragedy and a second tragedy. We can’t have a Central Park Five situation. I want the police to give us the truth.”
City Council Member Mark Levine said that an increased police presence shouldn’t result in over policing.
“It is critical that we avoid letting the ugly rhetoric this tragedy has sparked lead to a revival of the types of overly aggressive—and racially biased—policing strategies that inflicted so much harm in years past,” he said. “Contrary to what you see on social media, Morningside Park and New York City on the whole remain dramatically safer than they were in the 1990s and early 2000s. We need to keep this progress going through smart, fair, and balanced policing—not Giuliani-style tactics.”
