POUGHKEEPSIE – The murder trial of Nestor Ortizocampo, the teenager accused of killing Arlington High School student Quraan Smith following a football game on September 17, 2021, began today (Monday). The jury trial is taking place before Dutchess County Court Judge Jessica Segal and has brought in additional court officers for security purposes.
After hearing instructions from Judge Segal, the jurors heard Senior Assistant District Attorney Frank Petramale tell of how the victim’s mother dropped off her 16-year-old son Quraan Smith and his friend at Arlington High School so they could watch the football game. Describing the post-game incident, Petramale said that the evidence will show that the victim was “intentionally stabbed in the chest with a knife, by the defendant, Nestor Ortizocampo, who was 18 at the time.”
Petramale said the original fight took place near County Deputy Sheriffs Steve Price and Ashley Stroka. According to the prosecution, Stroka was restraining Ortizocampo when he “broke free from Stroka and charged at the victim with a knife and drove that knife into the chest of Quraan Smith.”
The defense team claims that Nestor Ortizocampo acted in self-defense on the night he killed Smith. “Evidence will show you that Nestor was terrified,” attorney Aida Ferrer Leisenring told the jury. The Long Island defense attorney also told the jury that her client has an IQ of 70 which caused him to drop out of high school.
Leisenring told the jury that after stabbing Smith, her client went home and told his family what had happened and his uncle took him back to the school where he gave a statement to sheriff’s detectives
The defense team has hinted to the jury that Ortizocampo will not be testifying in his own defense.
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