By Shayna Jacobs
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN SUPREME COURT — Lawyers for a Chinatown teen accused of murder attacked the credibility of the DA's main witness Thursday afternoon, depicting him as a dangerous gang member during cross-examination.
Accused killer Victor Fong's attorney spent about an hour grilling the alleged witness to the murder, Jesus Baez, on his arrest history, which included attempted robbery, gang assault and several trespassing arrests.
He was most recently charged with endangering the welfare of a child and sexual misconduct for allegedly having sex with a minor.
Baez testified on direct examination that he knew Fong, 18, from school — they were classmates at I.S. 131, the Sun Yat Sen Intermediate School at 100 Hester Street, where Fong allegedly stabbed Baez's friend, Nelson Pena, 18.
The witness told jurors there was bad blood between Fong's friends and his own.
On Nov. 18, 2009, a fight erupted between a group of Hispanics young men and Fong's smaller click of Chinese students. Baez admitted that his own weapon of choice in the brawl was a hammer, but said his friends used canes, broken sticks and a police baton, according to previous testimony.
Fong is charged with fatally stabbing Pena during the brawl in front of the school, and slashing Vincent Rivera, 17. But lawyers for Fong say video evidence shows the alleged killer was on the opposite side of Hester Street when Pena was attacked.
Fong's attorneys painted a picture Thursday of Baez as a reckless gang member and sexual deviant.
"Did you have sexual intercourse with a child?" defense attorney Robert Brown asked Baez at the start of cross-examination.
"I'm going to exercise my fifth amendment right," Baez said as he leaned closer to the microphone and glanced at his attorney, seated in the front row of the audience.
Baez denied he was in a gang until Brown submitted printouts of his MySpace page, on which he was identified as the "president" of the "Young Fly Gunnas," a Lower East Side street group.
He claimed that he didn't post photos of himself flashing gang signs and that others were authorized to use his account.
"And how do you make money considering you're not employed?" Brown asked the teen.
"My mom gave me money," the purported gang member answered.
Prosecutor said Baez went "missing in action" on Wednesday when he was supposed appear to serve as a witness Baez
"I was stressed out so I didn't want to come," he explained during testimony when asked about the disappearance.
Baez is expected to return to the witness stand Friday morning for additional cross-examination.