UPDATED: Nagee Green, who was arrested and charged in the homicide of Ithaca College sophomore Anthony Nazaire, was officially indicted Nov. 17, with one additional charge of manslaughter added to the original second-degree murder and assault charges.
Green allegedly admitted to police that he stabbed Nazaire and another Ithaca College student, according to court documents.
Green, a 23-year-old man from Freeville, New York, was arrested Nov. 7. He pleaded not guilty to one count of second-degree murder, a class A1 felony; and one count of assault in the second degree, a class D felony. The assault charge is for the other student according to the documents.
The court documents state Green confessed to police when he was interviewed for a little more than three hours after his arrest, from 2:06 to 5:14 p.m. The interview, held at the New York State Police Ithaca Barracks, was recorded on video.
Lance Salisbury, Green’s defense attorney and the director of the Criminal Defense Trial Clinic at Cornell University, said Green maintains that he did not commit the murder. He said the police’s documents represent the Ithaca Police Department’s interpretation of the interview with Green. He did say, though, that he has not seen the video interview himself.
“It’s not always what we think,” he said. “I do know that he’s adamant that he did not murder anyone.”
He said this type of contradiction is not unusual and will likely be a key issue to be contested in the trial.
The homicide occurred just before 2 a.m. Aug. 28 on Cornell’s campus. Around 1:57 a.m., officers from the Ithaca Police Department and the Cornell University Police Department responded to “a large fight” that broke out after an event at Willard Straight Hall. Nazaire was transported to Cayuga Medical Center and was later pronounced dead, and the other victim was flown by helicopter to Upstate Medical Center and later released.
In the court documents, the police allege Green possessed a large, black folding knife and stabbed Nazaire in the chest. Nazaire died “shortly thereafter” after suffering a stab wound to the left upper chest.
The other student was stabbed “repeatedly” in the back, which resulted in “stab wounds requiring hospitalization, and lasting substantial pain and suffering,” according to the documents.
The Nazaire family has expressed they want to see Green receive a life sentence.
“It’s because he took away an amazing person,” Kiara Nazaire, Anthony’s sister, said. “He needs to be in jail; that way he doesn’t take away another amazing person. … We cannot allow him to hurt another family like he’s hurt ours.”
Salisbury said the trial — to take place in the Tompkins County Court — could begin as early as late spring or early summer, depending on the trial calendar. However, he said in a previous interview with The Ithacan that since some of the witnesses are college students, the court may consider delaying the trial until the fall.
Editor-in-Chief Kayla Dwyer and Managing Editor Mary Ford contributed reporting.
