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The Lengthy Island man charged with killing a New Jersey highschool soccer participant exterior a downtown ax-throwing bar was acquitted by a Manhattan jury — even after admitting to the deadly stabbing on the witness stand.
Gianluca Bordone, 21, was discovered not responsible of manslaughter and assault prices Thursday after convincing jurors that he acted in self-defense when he stabbed 17-year-old Rocco Rodden within the coronary heart exterior the Reside Axe nightclub in TriBeCa the evening earlier than Thanksgiving 2023.
The three-week trial included a handful of witnesses who testified concerning the drunken, early morning melee the place Bordone, an Oyster Bay occasion promoter, plunged a pocket knife into Rodden’s chest as each teams of mates fought.
“He inflicted the deadly blow, a deadly wound within the heart of his chest that ripped by way of his rib cage and lower open his coronary heart,” Manhattan prosecutors stated at trial.
Bordone’s lawyer, Anthony Ricco, advised jurors that video of the Nov. 23, 2023, brawl would show his consumer’s actions had been justified as Rodden’s crew chased him down the block and began “beating the crap out of him.”
Bordone took to the witness stand Monday and advised the jury that he stabbed Rodden — a highschool junior and soccer participant — as a result of he feared for his life, in accordance with Newsday.
“I used to be afraid that they’d get me to the ground, stomp me, kill me, hit me with the bottle that I had seen earlier than,” he stated.
The trial included emotional testimony from Rodden’s members of the family, together with his 21-year-old brother Anthony, who was additionally slashed by Bordone throughout the brawl.
Anthony advised jurors that his youthful brother and sister joined others within the metropolis to rejoice a reunion again from school for the primary time — and testified to having been consuming closely on the time of the stabbing.
Dramatic police bodycam footage performed at trial confirmed a bloodied and shirtless Anthony screaming “The place’s my brother! The place’s my f–king brother!” as EMS tried to get him to a hospital for his personal slash wounds after the 1:30 a.m. combat.
The jury wanted simply 4 hours earlier than they returned their verdict to Manhattan Supreme Courtroom Justice Laura Ward Thursday.
Bordone, who graduated from Roslyn Excessive College, was going through as much as 25 years in jail if convicted of first-degree manslaughter.
His lawyer didn’t instantly return request for remark Friday.
A spokesperson for the Manhattan District Lawyer’s Workplace thanked jurors for his or her service and prolonged their condolences to the Rodden household.
“We thank the members of the jury for his or her service and respect their verdict,” the spokesperson stated. “We lengthen our deepest sympathies to the Rodden household, who proceed to mourn a devastating loss.”
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