Updated Oct. 12, 8:30 a.m.
WEST CHESTER, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — It took a Chester County jury more than nine hours to reach a verdict in last year’s deadly stabbing of a student in a Lincoln University dorm. The jury was tasked with deciding if it was an act of murder or self-defense.
The jury found the defendant not guilty of murder, but guilty of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of aggravated assault.
Jawine Evans died after he was stabbed in the neck during an on-campus fight on Feb. 16, 2022.
Nydira Smith, 40, claimed it was self-defense, as her brother, Malik Stevens, and his friends had become the target of violence from some of Evans’ friends. Smith’s lawyer, Greg Pagano, called Evans’ group “relentless predators.”
According to prosecutor Bridget Gallagher, after Stevens called Smith to come get him, she drove from her home in Mount Airy — over an hour and a half to Lincoln’s campus, and armed with a knife — to “finish the fight.”
Smith also stabbed two other students, injuring them. She said she tried to keep the two groups from fighting but was then punched in the head.
Gallagher said Smith and her brother were never in danger of death or serious bodily injury. She said it was simply a fistfight until Smith pulled the knife.
And, she argued, after the stabbing, Smith knew what she did was wrong and tried to cover it up, including getting rid of the knife and coming up with a story of self-defense.
Pagano, however, said Smith always carried the knife for protection because she was raped as a teenager. He said she also called campus security to let them know she was going to pick up her brother.
He said the fight only stopped because Smith stabbed Evans, and, he said, Smith only fled the scene because she feared retaliation.
Smith will be sentenced at a later date.