Cop testifies against man charged with stabbing him

POUGHKEEPSIE – The trial of Jalil Smith, 33, charged with the attempted murder of a City of Poughkeepsie police officer began on Wednesday.  Smith was also charged with aggravated assault of a police officer with a deadly weapon, two counts of assault, and two counts of criminal possession of a weapon.  He has previously been in prison for a conviction of criminal possession of a weapon.

On November 7, 2020, city police responded to a report of a man threatening his mother, the caller, with a screwdriver.  The initial reports allege that when Officer Acken, who has since been promoted to sergeant, and his partner, Officer Devon Zanin arrived at the Smith Street address, they were met outside by the defendant’s mother, who explained that her son was acting in a threatening manner.  The mother invited them in, leading the way.  Once in the apartment, she called to her son loudly, advising him that the officers were in the apartment. Moments later, Acken was attacked.

Dutchess County Senior Assistant District Attorney told the jurors during her opening that the case involved “The ambush of two police officers that were responding to a domestic dispute.”  The prosecutor told the jury that Smith’s mother announced the presence of the officers yet, moments later, he charged at Acken with his arm raised, wielding a “long screwdriver” and began stabbing at the officer’s neck and face.

Smith’s attorney, Alex Rosen, followed Long’s remarks and indicated that his client had experienced a home invasion a few months earlier, when a woman kicked his door in and beat Smith, a fitness instructor, with a fire extinguisher.  Rosen, from the Dutchess County Public Defender’s Office, mounted a “justification” defense, claiming his client had been on edge from the previous attack.  “Two people, in dark clothing, at night, with masks, entered your home unannounced – what would you do,” he asked the jury.  The masks Rosen referred to were…