By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — The man charged with stabbing two people to death on the 2 train last weekend maintained that he was defending himself after being hit in the head with a beer bottle, his attorney argued at his arraignment Friday.
Brenddy Garcia, 19, of Brooklyn, was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon after prosecutors said he fatally stabbed friends Darnell Morel and Ricardo Williams, both 24, and injured another man early Sunday morning.
Two of Garcia’s friends — Franklin Varella, 21, of Inwood, and Diogenes Hernandez, 21, of Queens — were initially arrested in connection to the stabbing, but prosecutors declined to charge them Thursday due to insufficient evidence, law enforcement sources said.
Garcia, who has no criminal record, sobbed openly in Manhattan Criminal Court as his attorney painted a picture of him as the victim.
Defense attorney Pamela Roth gave a similar account to what Garcia reportedly told police following his arrest Thursday. Roth said Garcia was forced to defend himself after he was hit with the beer bottle, an account backed up by witnesses, according to the Daily News.
Roth said Garcia boarded a downtown train in the Bronx with three friends at about 3:30 a.m. after a night out. In Midtown, Garcia was joined on the train by a rowdy pack of 10 to 13 individuals "all openly drinking alcohol on the train," Roth said.
The larger group began to harass a woman on the train, who got fed up and left the car, Roth said. The group then began taunting a sleeping homeless man before turning their attentions to Garcia and his friends, Roth added.
That’s when prosecutors said Garcia brandished a knife and began to attack the men.
"He's not sure who he struck or what actually occurred," Roth said of her client.
Prosecutors said Friday that Garcia was hit over the head with the bottle but argued he responded in a "grossly inappropriate manner" by lashing out with a knife.
Assistant District Attorney Jon Veiga said Garcia stood on the subway platform after the incident and "taunted the victims as the two young men bled to death."
Lory Taylor, Morel’s fiancée, said her would-be husband tried to “defuse the situation” and was not involved in the bottle attack.
“They have to realize that at the end of the day, they took somebody’s friend, somebody’s brother, somebody’s other half,” she said of Garcia. “I can’t say I hate this person — I just want the guilt to eat them up.”
Garcia is being held without bail and is scheduled to return to court on April 14.
