Stab Victim Testifies in Murder Trial

By MICHAEL ODMARK & KECIAH BAILEY

One of the victims of a stabbing spree described to jurors in Brooklyn Supreme Court Thursday the violent summer night brawl that led to the death of one teenager and injury to others.

Witness Maurice Burke testified that he was stabbed by the defendant, Wade Wilson while trying to break up a fight between Wilson and his friend, Kahliq Johnson.

Wilson is charged with fatally stabbing 18-year-old Joisas Masson in Lincoln Terrace Park in Brownsville just before midnight on June 23rd in 2014. Police said upon arrival, Masson was found with stab wounds to the chest. He later died from his wounds at Kings County Hospital. Johnson and Burke were also found with stab wounds to the arm and leg in the same location, police said.

On cross-examination, the defense attorney grilled Burke repeatedly to discredit his version of the events leading up to the stabbing. Although he did slightly change his testimony, Burke finally said that Wilson was on top of Johnson punching him in the back of the head and when he attempted to pull him off, Wilson stabbed him with the knife in the leg. Burke said he fell to the ground in pain and then realized he was bleeding.

His previous account was that Wilson walked up to him and stabbed him, but later he said, when first asked, he did not remember the details.

Wilson, who was 17 at the time, had fled the scene but was arrested days later.

The jury also saw a cell phone video of the melee that lead to the stabbing spree. The video, shot by eyewitness Richanda Shorter, was dark and unclear but depicted a huge brawl with dozens of people fighting and screaming at each other. In the video a female voice was heard frantically screaming, “Who stabbed my brother?”

After repeated questioning, Shorter said she was unable to properly identify anyone in the video as it was chaotic and “everybody was everywhere.”

Wilson was charged with second-degree murder, first-degree assault and criminal possession of a weapon.